1805 Eccleston medal. Musante GW-88, Baker-85. Bronze. SP-65 BN (PCGS).

76.0 mm. 2032.9 grains. An immensely attractive and high-grade Eccleston medal. Light chocolate brown through most of the fields with gentle nuances of olive. Generous faded red accents outline the devices and linger close to the rims. A bit more red is seen on the reverse and traces of soft prooflike reflectivity remain in the fields on both sides. A couple of trivial spots are noted at the lower right obverse for accuracy. Beautifully struck on an unusually nice flan with only minimal natural porosity that did not strike out of the cast planchet when the dies came together, far less than seen on many examples. The Eccleston medal is a classic early Washington piece and is beloved for its considerable size, elegant styling and still somewhat unexplained reverse design featuring a Native American and the legend, THIS LAND WAS OURS. No nice example ever goes wanting for attention, and this must be counted among the nicest we have offered in recent years, although the November 2020 E Pluribus Unum sale included another in identical grade. That brought $3,720, the highest price we have seen for an Eccleston in bronze, excluding the Baker specimen that had three secret punch marks applied by the engraver, or perhaps otherwise at the order of Eccleston, a variant first published in that sale. This has a good provenance and was featured as the plate specimen in Wayte Raymond's 1941 monograph The Early Medals of Washington as number 28.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from Wayte Raymond; John J. Ford, Jr.; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part II, May 2004, lot 140.