1800 Washington Funeral medal. Skull and Crossbones. Musante GW-71 (Dies 2-A2), Baker-165A. Silver. AU-55 (PCGS).29.3 mm. 110.8 grains. Pierced for suspension at 12:00 as issued. Seemingly an exact mate to the first of the silver urn medals offered above, as the toning, surfaces and overall sharpness are largely identical. The obverse is somewhat deeply toned and appears a little dark at first glance. However, close inspection reveals polychrome mottling of gold, green, rose, violet and blue. The recesses are perhaps a bit darker, but this is at least partly due to light natural handling deposits that have settled therein. The reverse is lighter, as it was the side best protected in the cabinet, and it displays lovely pastel rose, gold and green toning over medium to light gray silver. A few light hairlines and other minor handling marks are noted, but the medal is sharply executed and the eye appeal is excellent. In fact, this design is not only distinctive for the rarely seen funerary motif, it is a much better layout than the funeral urn medals. Here, the highest points of the design on each side are not in opposition, allowing for a much sharper execution. The skull and crossbones motif is very sharp, as are all of the letters of the concentric four-line legend. <p><p>These medals were produced by Jacob Perkins, himself a member of the Masonic Brotherhood, for the Masonic funeral procession in Boston. While it was reported that some 1,600 participants convened for the Masonic procession, the rarity of this medal today renders it unthinkable that any number approaching that would have been produced. Most likely, Perkins would have made as many as he thought he might be able to reasonably sell to fellow local Masonic brothers in advance of their convergence upon Boston for the February 11th event. <p><p>An announcement of the planned Masonic procession in Boston appeared in newspapers in that city as well those in the Massachusetts communities of Salem, Newburyport, Worcester, Springfield, Northampton, Stockbridge, Leominster, Dedham and Portland, Maine, for several days in order to gather the Masonic Brotherhood to publicly honor Washingtons memory. The event seems to have been erroneously reported as planned for February 22nd in some publications, and later corrected to February 11th. Bostons <em>Russells Gazett</em>e advertised in their January 16th edition that the event would be on the 22nd of February, while a very similar notice appeared in Bostons <em>Columbia Centinel</em> with amended wording placing the event on February 11th.<p><p>The Centinel notice read, in part:<p><p>"The formation of the Grand Procession will commence at ten oclock; and at half past 11, will move from the Old State-House, to the Old South Meeting House, with the consent of the Proprietors, where an Eulogy will be pronounced by the Hon Brother Timothy Bigelow.<p><p>"The Officers of the Lodges are requested to bring with them their jewels, the collars of which are to be shrouded in black crepe.<p><p>"By direction of the most worshipful Samuel Dunn, grand master of Massachusetts."<p><p>Perkins would have had to work with diligent focus to prepare the dies and strike the funeral medals, as the earliest processions were dated within a month of Washingtons passing. The fairly large number of dies suggests he had little interruption in the process.<p>Ex William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897.
