Hobo

A rare George Washington medal dating to 1797 has been found in Virginia. The medal was found along with other artifacts at Alexandria at Shuter’s Hill, the site of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. (Actually the medal was excavated 10 years ago but was not identified and was stored away until now.)

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No state shall emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, coin money . . . - US Constitution, Article 1, Section 10

ANA LM-3799; OHNS LM-59; SUSCC R-4005. All coins stored in bank safe deposit box.

green18

Interesting read Hobo....

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They also serve who only stand and wait....John Milton

sketcherpbr

sweet!

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Monetary values amount to nothing in the face of a coin that's survived centuries to make it into my hand.

Harryj

Thanks!!! Any idea what its worth?

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Hobo

No idea. I would imagine a pretty penny. Maybe Coin World or NN will give a value when they report it.

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No state shall emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, coin money . . . - US Constitution, Article 1, Section 10

ANA LM-3799; OHNS LM-59; SUSCC R-4005. All coins stored in bank safe deposit box.

cwtokenman

The dies for this token were cut by Thomas Wyon of Birmingham, England. The reverse just has wording in 9 lines - GENERAL/OF THE AMERICAN/ARMIES, 1775./RESIGND THE COMMAND 1783/ELECTED PRESIDENT OF/THE UNITED STATES 1789./RE-ELECTED, 1793/RESIGN'D./1797.

My 1999 reference lists value at $575 in EF and $800 in UNC. Diameter is 37mm, and is made of white metal. It has a plain edge. Also has the id of Raymond 11.

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Red meat is not bad for you, fuzzy green meat is bad for you.

Hobo

Thanks, CWT. That is interesting info. Any idea how many of these medals were struck?

[The wording on the reverse is interesting - "ELECTED PRESIDENT OF/THE UNITED STATES 1789./RE-ELECTED, 1793/RESIGN'D./1797". I don't recall Washington resigning from office.]

__________________
No state shall emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, coin money . . . - US Constitution, Article 1, Section 10

ANA LM-3799; OHNS LM-59; SUSCC R-4005. All coins stored in bank safe deposit box.

Conder101

Not so much resigned as chose not to accept the office again. You have to remember that at that point in time the idea of someone in power, especially the "top office", voluntarily stepping down from office was pretty much unheard of. Washington could have pretty much held onto the job and been "President for life" with no trouble. But instead he stepped down or "resigned" and allowed someone else to take over.

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Slab collector and researcher
reported as of 12/29/06
132 companies 332 production varieties

Hobo

You're right - not many politicians voluntarily give up power. But Washington was a class act. He refused to have his image on US coins because (for one reason) he did not want to appear like the British monarchs that placed their images on British coins (and still do to this day).

Washington died in 1799. I wonder if he knew he would not live long enough to complete a third term and walked away from it so he could enjoy what remained of his life.

Interestingly, Presidents after Washington seemed to respect the precedent that Washington set by limiting his tenure to two terms. That is until FDR was elected 4 times.

__________________
No state shall emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, coin money . . . - US Constitution, Article 1, Section 10

ANA LM-3799; OHNS LM-59; SUSCC R-4005. All coins stored in bank safe deposit box.

Conder101

And government respected his wishes with respect to his portrait on coinage until 1932 (Ok with a Commem in 1899, but he shared that and didn't have it to himself.) and since that time has now apparently deified him so that the God Washington will grade the quarter dollar evermore. Exactly what he didn't want to happen.

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Slab collector and researcher
reported as of 12/29/06
132 companies 332 production varieties