THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ALUMNI MEDAL

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V20 2017 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 8, February 19, 2017, Article 11

Len Augsburger submitted this query originally from John Sallay, who seeks an example of an awarded Washington University Alumni Medal. Can anyone help? -Editor

Tokens and medals are a challenging field within numismatics, defying simple classifications and clear definitions of set completion. Collectors gravitate toward well-defined objectives, and within American numismatics one finds more coin collectors than token and medal aficionados. Among the latter, researcher John Sallay has made a specialty of school-awarded medals and has catalogued over 3,000 U.S. examples.

Sallay recently identified a Washington University piece in his collection (here photographed by Sallay) and sought further information from the University. The obverse of this medal depicts George Washington, immediately suggesting an origin date of c. 1932 as the bicentennial of Washington’s birth generated a number of medallic tributes. Sonya Rooney, University Archivist, uncovered the story in the February 1937 Alumni Bulletin, which states in part,

“The awarding of George Washington medals to outstanding students in high schools and junior colleges in the Mississippi Valley is an activity of the Arts and Science alumni that has been growing in size and popularity during the past several years. Last spring thirty-eight of these medals were given out in as many schools…..the idea of this award was conceived by Philo Stevenson, alumni representative, who purchased ten of the medals in 1933….This year the association expects to be able to obtain funds from individuals for about fifteen of the medals, and the alumni association will take care of about thirty…”

The Alumni medal depicted here is unawarded, lacking the recipient’s name that would have been hand engraved on the reverse beneath AWARDED TO. This example may have originated from leftover stock in the Alumni office, or been distributed to an area school but never officially conferred upon a student. The obverse, featuring a bust of Washington but otherwise not associated with Washington University, may also have been paired with a different reverse die than that depicted here.

Sallay has not yet discovered an example of an awarded Washington University Alumni medal. Based on the figures in the Alumni Bulletin, one can reasonably infer a population of a few hundred pieces distributed in the 1930s. Of these, perhaps half survive today, most likely handed down within the families of the original honorees.