Washingtoniana

1889 Washington Inaugural Centennial, Committee of the Celebration Badge. By Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Philip Martiny. Musante GW-1136, Douglas-54. Silver. Extremely Fine.

35 mm. 25.12 grams. Looped for suspension from a bar and yellow ribbon, both of which have since been lost. Bright silver surfaces are a tad glossy with faint hairlines that point to a cleaning. Scattered marks are also noted, and there appears to be a slight bend in the badge at 9 o'clock relative to the obverse. Medals of this type were presented to Inaugural Centennial celebration officials and members of the New York State Legislature. While we occasionally offer bronze examples (including in this sale), silver examples are exceedingly rare. In fact, we have only offered one other in this metallic composition in recent year, a PCGS AU-50 that appeared as lot 99 in our October 2018 Baltimore Auction.

Estimate: 1500