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The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 45, November 5, 2017, Article 17

QUERY: WASHINGTON BEFORE BOSTON MEDAL PLASTER

Washington Before Boston medal obverse plaster Washington Before Boston medal obverse plaster edge

Bill Burd of Chicago writes:

A friend of mine has this plaster cast of a Washington before Boston medal. He hasn’t accurately measured it but is approximately 68 mm. He got it from a descendant of a government official. It was in an expensive old-time frame. We would like some information on it.

Here's a side-by-side comparison with the medal. As always, readers can click on the images to see larger versions in our Flickr archive. NOTE: the photo resolution is not great to begin with. -Editor

Washington Before Boston medal obverse Washington Before Boston medal obverse plaster

Bill adds:

Notice “EXERCITUUM “ is spelled with U instead of V. I believe that is a distinct variety.

I reached out to John W. Adams and Anne Bentley, co-authors of the 2007 book Comitia Americana and Related Medals -Editor

John Adams writes:

As Mr. Burd notes, the plaster derives from a matrix that employed the original "U" die. This die was rejected for reasons discussed on page 48 of COMITIA AMERICANA AND RELATED MEDALS. Thus, it must have been prepared by a Paris Mint insider who had access to that die or to the BPL cliché referenced on the same page or to the Adams shell mentioned on page 30 . My eyes or the image are not good enough to guess how far removed the plaster is from the die or one of its emissions.

Anne Bentley writes:

I forwarded this to Neil Musante whose eyes are younger than mine and whose visual recall is far superior than mine ever was.

Neil Musante, author of Medallic Washington writes:

I think John has it 100% correct.

Thanks, everyone! Any other thoughts? -Editor


Wayne Homren, Editor

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