Exonumia, 1860, Richmond Statue, Medal, MS64 RB, NGC

Exonumia, 1860-Medal, MS64, RB, Richmond Statue, GW-517, NGC.

George Hampden Lovett was one of the most accomplished private die sinkers of 19th century New York, born into perhaps the most important engraving family in American exonumia. His father, Robert Lovett Sr., established the family’s reputation through an enormous output of political medals, store cards, patriotic tokens, and commemorative issues, while his brother Robert Lovett Jr. would later become infamous for the clandestine striking of the 1861 Confederate Cent. George proved no less talented, producing some of the finest and most artistic private medals of the Civil War era. Struck at the height of that conflict, the present medal carries an especially curious subject. George Washington served as a shared national icon claimed by both North and South, yet Lovett chose for his reverse not a generic bust, but the celebrated Washington statue standing in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. For a Northern engraver, and by all accounts a loyal Union artisan, this choice is both surprising and fascinating. The piece was one of twenty different Washington medals Lovett advertised for sale in 1862. Contemporary accounts suggest that just sixteen copper sets were offered at the extraordinary price of $10 per set, a staggering sum when a Union soldier earned only $13 per month in 1863. It is doubtful all sixteen complete sets were ever struck, and no intact set has been traced. With a reported mintage of only sixteen pieces, this medal stands among the rarest of all Washingtonia. PCGS has certified only three examples, and those same three pieces account for all appearances at public auction through either Heritage or Stack’s Bowers.

The present example is remarkably mark free with much deep proof like surfaces.