Circa 1860 Washington / QUANDO ULLUM INVENIEMUS PAREM Medal by George H. Lovett, from the Bushnell series. Musante GW-368, Baker-A103C. White metal. MS-63 (PCGS).

27.7 mm. Light silver gray with just a trace of soft toning. Though a trace of handling is evident, including a couple of short scratches, faint parallel die lines should not be mistaken for hairlines. Satiny and lustrous, yet slightly reflective in the fields. A minor waviness is detected in the soft flan. One of a series produced for Charles Bushnell, most of which were made in unique four-piece sets, each design in silver, brass, copper and white metal. As far as we are aware, this one is unique in white metal, combining great rarity and an exceptional provenance to one of America's greatest 19th-century collectors. Plated by Rulau and Fuld in their 1999 revision of Medallic Portraits, as well as by Neil Musante in his Medallic Washington.

From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Charles I. Bushnell; Lorin G. Parmelee; S.H. and H. Chapman's sale of the Bushnell Collection, June 1882:1426 (Lot of four pieces in different metals); Henry Ahlborn; unknown intermediaries; Jack Collins; our (Stack's) sale of April 1996, lot 130; David Hirsch Collection; Presidential Coin and Antique's sale of June 2011, lot 168.