Medal - George Washington (Birth and Death) ND

Reverse

Lettering within wreath

Script: Latin

Lettering:
BORN
1732
DIED
1799

Engraver: Anthony Paquet

Edge

Plain

Comment

Baker 155A

On February 22, 1860 the Philadelphia mint formally inaugurated the Washington Cabinet of medals. The event culminated over a decade of intensive collecting by the mint with a printed description of the medals published in 1861 by the mint's director James Ross Snowden. During the 1860's and 70's the collection of Washington was the most celebrated of the mint's holdings. Even before the collection was officially inaugrated the engraver Anthony C. Paquet created the above medal to be purchased as a souvenir by those visiting the mint collection. Paquet's monogram, an A combined with a P, appears in the center of the ridge at the arm truncation.
The obverse of the medal shows a bust right portrait of Washington in civilian dress that is though to be based on the unfinished Gilbert Stuart three quarter face portrait of Washington now owned by the Boston Athenaeum (and reproduced on the one dollar bill), the reverse contains the legend within a wreath. The medal was struck at the Philadelphia mint and issued in gold, silver, copper, bronze and yellow bronze. A similar bust and wreath were issued in smaller size (Baker 156) as part of Paquet's two medal mint sets.

https://coins.nd.edu/washtoken/WashTokenText/1850-59d.html#Baker-325C