Dating/Attributing Washington before Boston Medal (Restrikes)
phantacc
Posts: 9 ✭
So... no illusions here. I'm aware (I think) that at best, this is a $200-300 piece and at worst a $20 piece. But I'm not super familiar with these medals. My immediate reaction to the piece attached was, "Oh thats a modern restrike, not rare." On digging more however, I'm not so sure.
So, anyone have an reference material they suggest for pieces like these? There is no hallmark on the edge (no BRONZE and no BRONZE+Cornucopia). The dot after the F in DUVIVIER PARIS .F. is raised slightly higher on the horizon than the proceeding dot. I swear for all the world this thing looks 1970s+ and not 1870s. But everything I've been able to find wants to point me to a pre-1880s Paris restrike. Any help would be most appreciated. It also came with the card pictured and in a presentation case the medal doesn't fit perfectly into.
Comments
Any kind of privy mark on the edge? The Paris Mint would use that to roughly date the strike.
Agreed this appears to be a modern strike.
It looks very modern.
Found this one on Numista, but not very helpful. Is the diameter of your coin 68mm?
Also, I uploaded your photo to ChatGPT and it provided this list of possibilities:
A number of the pre-1900 issues are listed here.
Knowing what's on the edge seems important.
CRO has a one for sale for some comparison.
Not sure if this search will work for you guys:
https://archive.stacksbowers.com/?q=3e9ce99d-fe93-4bab-ae39-fd1bb3cc3202
It looks most like this one (assuming no edge marking):
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-Q8E3U/1776-20th-century-washington-before-boston-medal-third-us-mint-issue-musante-gw-09-us3-baker-49c-failor-hayden-401-yellow-bro
Agree. It definitely looks most like the Baker 49c, which I will now colloquially refer to as "Yellow Bro". The slightly raised dot on the right side of the F is what sells it the most to me.
Does Baker offer any date range for the 49c? Guessing 1950s.
And to answer cinque...
Mine measures 68.1mm on the digital caliper. I looped it half a dozen times on the edge. No markings whatsoever. Its funny, when I queried ChatGPT on it, it gave me...
And told me all the U.S. Mint strikes were 76mm. I also questioned it profusely over the sharpness of what appeared to be a modern strike and bright yellow bronze and it offered (paraphrased) 'Paris mint rocks, all their stuff looked modern'.
Gut and experience > meaningless provenance and technology.