1776 (ca. 1880) Washington Before Boston Medal. First U.S. Mint Issue. Gunmetal Dies. Musante GW-09-US1, Baker-49, Julian MI-1. Bronzed Copper. Specimen-63 (PCGS).67.8 mm. 2458.4 grains. A rare offering of a medal from the Baker Collection, the vast majority of which was purchased by a single buyer, thereby making this provenance exceptionally elusive in the marketplace after our November 2019 sale. We described it at the time as follows:Handsome light reddish brown surfaces are gently mottled with nuances of olive brown. Glossy with a somewhat fine satin luster, though suggestions of faint reflectivity are noted when the medal is turned in the light. A couple of minuscule spots are noted under magnification, but the surfaces appear appealingly fresh otherwise. An attractive example of this first U.S. Mint-produced Washington Before Boston, struck from new copy dies made in Philadelphia. The production of the dies themselves was described by Baker in 1885 as follows:"This medal furnished at the United States Mint, is struck from gun metal dies made in 1860, from a medal with the second reverse. The manner of making these dies is as follows. The medal is submitted to a heavy pressure from gun metal heated almost into a state of fusion, thus conveying to the metal in intaglio the obverse and reverse of the original piece, and forming dies from which the mint medals are struck. These impressions are necessarily much inferior to the originals."Though it would have been this medal that inspired Bakers "much inferior" pronouncement, the impression is really rather nice. That the fields would be far less prooflike and the reliefs swirled with die finishing lines would not have been lost on Baker, however, and crumbling around the legends seems to have happened early on as this feature is frequently seen. One can easily see how Baker might have considered these pieces inferior, though they are simply different.Ex William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897; our sale of the William Spohn Baker Collection, November 2019, lot 20005.
