Circa 1798 Washington Seasons Medal. The Sower. Early reverse die state. Musante GW-68, Baker-171, Julian IP-53. Silver. EF-40 (PCGS).

48.1 mm. 712.3 grains. A remarkable return appearance of one of the prizes of the William Spohn Baker Collection, sold by us in November 2019. We described it then, as follows: “Fairly light silver gray with the obverse in particular exhibiting light mottled bluish gray toning. Lightly polished surfaces and a bit hairlined, yet traces of the original reflectivity are still visible in places. Clearly an awarded medal, perhaps one of those promised by Washington to a Cherokee deemed deserving. The integral suspension loop has been lost, which is not unusual as they seem to have proven too weak to support the hard wear these medals occasionally endured. A small mounting mark is noted on the edge at 12 o’clock, where the loop had been. There are scattered bumps and nicks consistent with a piece that was worn, yet no serious damage as sometimes seen. There is evidence of coarse filing on the rims on both sides that has been there a long time. However, it appears very much like a decorative element, perhaps added by the wearer. Significantly, the file marks themselves were obviously fairly deep and yet are quite worn, nearly completely through in places. There are no signs of rim bumps or attempted removal of same. Struck through a small piece of wire in the obverse exergue, which at first glance might appear as a small scratch at U.S.A.” This identical strike-through is seen on an example of this medal at the ANS, though the position shifted between impressions, ever so slightly. Revisiting the matter of the Cherokee as told in the introduction above, it is notable that this piece was struck from the early state reverse die which seems to be rare, even among awarded medals. As such, there is a reasonable case to be made that it did indeed get awarded among the Cherokee, as it was this Nation that had been initially promised these medals, and this Nation whose want of them so plagued the Secretary of War during the long production delay. It would naturally follow that the first shipment of medals would have contained the earliest impressions and been awarded to those longest awaiting them. Still, this does have the small breaks that connect E and O of GEO and N and G of WASHINGTON. Unlike the later state medals offered here, these two breaks are not corrected on this medal. It would appear that this degree of quality control was not undertaken until collector strikes began to be distributed, or they had not yet been noticed by the maker. One of just 14 known to the writer, though one of these is suspicious and possibly silver-plated.

From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex the William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897; our sale of Washingtoniana from the Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, November 2019, lot 20050.