Exonumia, Undated (Circa 1865-1880), Time Increases His fame, Medal, MS63 BN, NGC

Exonumia, Undated (Circa 1865-1880)-Medal, MS63, BN, Time Increases His fame, NGC. One of the most curious and enigmatic pieces in all of Washingtonia, not so much for rarity alone, but for the deeply puzzling circumstances of its manufacture. In his landmark 1861 study, James Ross Snowden specifically records this Washington medal as his number 30 and notes that the obverse dies had been engraved decades earlier by former Chief Engraver William Kneass. That attribution immediately raises eyebrows, as Kneass had been incapacitated and effectively removed from active engraving work long before this medal was ever struck, suggesting the obverse hub or completed dies had lain dormant in Mint storage for more than a quarter century.

For reasons now lost to history, those abandoned obverse dies were resurrected sometime in the post-Civil War era and paired with a newly prepared reverse, almost certainly the work of assistant engraver Anthony C. Paquet. The result is a medal that feels almost accidental, as though two entirely separate moments in Mint engraving history were stitched together into one final issue. That alone makes the piece remarkable. Yet the larger mystery remains tantalizingly unanswered: if Kneass had indeed prepared this Washington obverse as part of an earlier intended medallic project, what reverse was originally meant to accompany it? No documentary evidence has surfaced, leaving this a tantalizing mystery in the exonumia field.

The present specimen is especially attractive, displaying rich chocolate brown surfaces over deeply reflective fields that lend the medal a subtle prooflike character. The preservation is exceptional for the issue, with only trivial handling separating it from the finest tier of known examples. A medal of considerable historical intrigue and one that remains among the most intellectually satisfying of all United States Mint Washington pieces.