Circa 1832 Birth Centennial medal by Wright and Bale. Original reverse. Musante GW-127A, Baker-74A. White Metal. SP-62 (PCGS).44.8 mm. 583.5 grains. An incredible specimen of this very rare variety and easily the nicest we have ever seen. In fact, it may be the only one we have ever seen. Not a single piece exists in our online archives, so any we have handled have been comfortably more than a decade ago. We can’t find a single example in the major collections of Washington medals we have sold except for in the Gil Steinberg sale, where one was unplated and lotted with two other medals. We did note one misidentified as this early variant and wonder if the Steinberg entry was another such error. The collections without one include Stanley Scott, Garrett, Stewart Witham, David Dreyfuss, Jack Collins, the Fairfax Collection, Lucien LaRiviere, Western Reserve Historical Society, John J. Ford, Jr., the Patriot Collection, Norweb, and Charles Wharton. This is undeniably an extraordinary list of cabinets to be missing this medal.<p>It is as attractive as it is rare. Bold prooflike fields accentuate the sharp satiny devices. Mostly brilliant with a small area of dark mottling behind Washington’s head and at the base of the bust. A little hairlined in the fragile fields, but no marks worthy of mention are seen. Heavy filing on the reverse rim may have been done by the maker and thus part of the finishing. Either way, it is forgivable on a medal like this.<p>We have elected to make a small adjustment in the ordering of this series in this sale (breaking slightly with the order established in Musante) by placing the GW-127A medals before GW-127. The order presented here is the proper and somewhat surprising sequence of striking for these three medals.<p>This white metal specimen is the earliest die state among the three we have available for study, and it bears the crack in the reverse die that likely eventually necessitated its replacement. The crack is described here, while further discussion will be under the lots to follow. The tiny break may be seen on the lower right oak leaf, the second upward from the bow. At the tip of the leaf, there is a small piece out of the die that connects to the rim, and extends in a fine crack across it. It extends in the opposite direction through the middle leaf of that group and terminates at the inner leaf. A thin branch crack arcs from the small lump upward to the acorn above.Ex William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897.
