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CommemKing
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Say it on eBay and had to have it for $10. The U.S. mint and 1832 on the obverse and the Lord's Prayer on the reverse. Looks like brass but it's heavy.
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Unusual combination... must have been a strange individual. Cheers, RickO
Not unusual at all. At the time, the Lord's Prayer was culturally considered a universal creed, regardless of denomination. Other similar medalettes with the same reverse design were made for distribution at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia. I believe the OP's piece was issued a little later to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the completion of the construction of the 2nd Philadelphia Mint facility (1882).
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
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The following is from Dick Johnson's Data Bank of Medal Artists and Soley's entry begins on Pg. 202 with information on all of his work.
Full name: George Bache Soley.
Born Pennsylvania, 4 August 1836.
Hired as a machinist for Philadelphia Mint engraving department, March 1859; promoted to diemaker in 1867, his mint employment continued until his death in 1908. Numismatist Gene Hynds studied his work extensively and reports Soley also did independent work for Philadelphia medalists William H. Key and William Warner.
In 1875 Soley purchased the Mint's first steam coining press (obtained in France by Franklin Peale, it had been installed in 1836, and retired 1875). Soley refurbished it to run manually (later by electric motor), took it to parades, fairs and expositions, notably the Centennial Expo, 1876. He struck two sizes, including a variety of medalets (listed below), many had the Lord's Prayer on reverse. The blanks were made with obsolete U.S. Mint equipment, like 12.7 mm collars and blanking dies, formerly used for the U.S. gold dollar (1849-54).
He also struck silver dollar size souvenir medals for sale. He prepared a Liberty Seated obverse die (inspired by James B. Longacre’s pattern trade dollar (Judd 1008) and eight other dies, muleing these to form at least eleven different types (in 34 varieties in as many as five compositions); these are all listed as HK48 to HK72c.
In at least two instances Soley struck medal dies on cardboard blanks (see Exomedallic category below)
Soley died Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 26 March 1908. In 1927 Soley's widow donated the press to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute which placed it on view. It dispensed small cent-size medals bearing Benjamin Franklin's portrait (Greenslet GM-101). Later these were struck by August Frank, dispersed like a vending machine at the press exhibit and in turn, were replaced by medals by Franklin Mint dies in 1970s (GM-102).
In 1999, the Franklin Institute wished to dispose of the press. Due to the effort of numismatist Craig Sholley, who oversaw its refurbishing (by Joe Rust of Gallery Mint). The press was placed on permanent loan to the museum of the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs. Transfer ceremony held 23 March 2000, exhibited at the ANA's Philadelphia convention (7-12 August 2000), then at its museum in Colorado Springs.