(c.1798) Medal J-IP-52, GW-69 Silver Mounted Season Three, The Home MS(PCGS#606298)

Winter 2022 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

2080

等级

AU50

价格

932,227

详细说明

Prized Silver Seasons Medal With Hanger The Home The William Spohn Baker Specimen Circa 1798 Washington Seasons Medal. The Home. Early reverse die state. Musante GW-69, Baker-172, Julian IP-52. Silver. AU-50 (PCGS). 48.2 mm (without the loop). 710.4 grains. This medal holds the record price for any single Seasons medal sold at auction (at $96,000, which it realized in our November 2019 sale) and, like the silver Sower medal offered previously, it has arguably the most illustrious provenance a Washington medal can have—to William Spohn Baker. A remarkable opportunity to acquire a rare and historic medal, but also to include this rare provenance in any collection, as the majority of the sale went to a single bidder who donated it all to the Money Museumof the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs. Light bluish gray toning over much of the obverse, with a small area of rosy golden brown at the upper left and in some of the intricacies of the design. The reverse is light silver-gray with just a hint of faint champagne toning around the devices and pale blue close to the rims. This is very similar to the appearance of the other silver Seasons medals from the Baker cabinet, indicative of their long stay together. This is among the very rare examples to have been awarded, worn, and yet still have its original suspension loop intact. Indeed, there are numerous small nicks, fine scratches and even gentle edge bumps, but the loop held firm through it all, and it is among very few survivors known with this feature intact. As with the silver Sower above, this was also struck from the early state reverse die and the commentary regarding the Cherokee in that lot applies here as well. It is impossible to decipher the precise history of course, but the possibility and evidence that this medal may have specifically fulfilled a direct promise and wish of George Washington is an intriguing one. Lightly cleaned as typical, but suggestions of the original reflectivity remain. Sharp, attractive and at least as desirable as it is rare. We have only sold two examples of this medal in silver across more than a dozen years, and this is one of them. The other was an unlooped collector piece. For a purist collector of the Indian Peace medal series who desires the ideal awarded specimen, the unlikely reappearance of this medal is an incredible opportunity. One question posed in our Historical Society of Pennsylvania sale remains unanswered and intriguing, “The fact that the three designs of the Seasons medals correspond with Washington’s three different suggested goals for the advancement of the Cherokee raises an interesting question: Were the various designs awarded for advancements in the areas they depict? Did the family who learned to spin wool receive the Home, whereas the farmer who expanded his crops get the Sower?” This is one 13 survivors known to the writer. Additional information pertaining to this lot: The Seasons Medals When William Spohn Baker set out to systematically catalog the enthusiastically collected and ever-growing body of Washington medals in his 1885 book, Medallic Portraits of Washington, he focused primarily, as the title suggests, on the portraits of George Washington found on coins, tokens and medals. The Seasons medals bear no such portraits, yet Baker included these in his reference in recognition of their historical importance and long-standing acceptance by collectors of Washington medals as inextricable entries into the series. Baker was a consummate historian and Washington scholar, so it is easy to understand why these medals would have been appreciated by him, perhaps to an even greater degree than by other collectors of the time. Baker introduced these medals, in part, as follows: "They were unquestionably used as Indian Peace medals, the designs referring to different phases of civilized life, being intended to attract attention to its comforts and advantages, and to induce them to make a change in their habits of living." Somewhat surprisingly considering the Washington scholar that Baker was, he did not mention that the direct inspiration for the designs of these medals was from George Washington's own pen. On August 29, 1796, George Washington wrote a letter to the Cherokee Nation, the complete text of which is easily found on the website of the National Archives. The letter was meant to address relations with the Cherokee by way of instruction as to how they might improve their standing as peaceful neighbors of the white settlers. It is a fascinating read for its insights into Washington's thoughtful manner, but also into the decidedly inconsiderate and absolute approach the administration took toward the Native peoples. It was clearly expected that they would abandon their own customs in favor of those practiced by white settlers. Washington was specific and presented his own personal desires to retire to his plantation as guidance for how the Cherokee might best live in peace and prosperity. He described the advantages of expanding livestock and crops and that "your wives and daughters can soon learn to spin and to weave." He summarized his detailed proposals as follows: "What I have recommended to you I am myself going to do. After a few moons are passed, I shall leave the great town, and retire to my farm. There I shall attend to the means of increasing my cattle, sheep, and other useful animals, to the growing of corn, wheat & other grain, and to the employing of women in spinning and weaving: all which I have recommended to you, that you may be as comfortable & happy as plenty of food, cloathing [sic] & other good things can make you." Herein lie the direct inspirations for the Seasons medals, reinforced as such by the following passage from the same letter: "…before I retire, I shall speak to my beloved man, the Secretary of War, to get prepared some medals, to be given to such Cherokees as by following my advice, shall best deserve them. For this purpose, Mr. Dinsmoore [Washington's Agent to the Cherokee Nation] is from time to time to visit every town in your Nation. He will give instructions to those who desire to learn what I have recommended. He will see what improvements are made; who are most industrious in raising cattle, in growing corn, wheat, cotton & flax, & in spinning and weaving: and on those who excel the rewards are to be bestowed." Less than two months later, on October 10, 1796, the Secretary of War wrote to Rufus King, the Washington administration's Minister to Great Britain, to procure the desired medals using sources in England. King called upon John Trumbull, the famous Revolutionary-era artist to design the medals, presumably based on a copy of Washington's letter to the Cherokee or notes taken therefrom, as Trumbull's sketches undeniably directly represent Washington's words. Unfortunately, by the time John Adams had been inaugurated President, on March 4, 1797, the Seasons medals were still not completed, much to the discomfort of Secretary of War James McHenry. According to Father Prucha, McHenry wrote on December 4, 1797, to Rufus King, "My poor Indians are very clamorous for their medals; more so indeed than for their plows." The medals were completed in 1798, and arrived from England in July of that year. There were reportedly 500 struck in silver and 200 struck in copper. According to Prucha, the first shipment included 326 silver medals. It is unclear which types were represented, but it was certainly an uneven distribution as this is not divisible by three. It is unknown when the copper impressions arrived. As the Seasons medals arrived so late, no new medals were specifically produced for the Adams administration, which must have distributed at least some of the Seasons medals to the Cherokee. Some or all of those that remained on hand are known to have been distributed under the Thomas Jefferson administration by the hands of Lewis and Clark. As such, the Seasons medals are tied not just to Washington, but to the first three presidential administrations as well as the famous journey of America's two most famous early explorers. Both silver and copper examples were issued with suspension loops that proved fragile, while at least a few of each were struck for medal cabinets, and never looped. The ANS has a set of the latter in silver, as does the British Museum. The Virgil Brand Estate produced a fabulous cased six-piece set (once in the Stickney cabinet). The copper specimens in the Baker Collection seem to have been such a presentation set as well. As far as we are aware, it is unknown who first called these the "Seasons Medals," but whoever it was didn't consider that these designs really have nothing to do with seasons, other than perhaps the spring planter. Augustus B. Sage did not use the term in his 1859 Henry Bogert sale, but by 1862 the term had been coined, as W. Elliot Woodward used it, in quotes, in his November sale of the Finotti Collection. Provenance: 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 Historical Society of Pennsylvania, November 2019, lot 20052. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA. Click here to see Coins in Motion.[“Coins]