Eccleston’s Impressive George Washington Medal

CNG 97, Lot: 961. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNITED STATES. George Washington. 1732-1799. Æ Medal (76mm, 128.1 g, 12h). Struck in England by Daniel Eccleston. Dies by Thomas Webb. Dated 1805. GENERAL WASHINGTON (from 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock clockwise) INSCRIBED TO HIS MEMORY BY D: ECCLESTON• LANCASTER MDCCCV• (from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock counterclockwise), draped and cuirassed bust right of George Washington, his hair tied with a ribbon / HE LAID THE FOUNDATION OF AMERICAN LIBERTY IN THE XVIII CENTURY/INNUMERABLE MILLIONS YET UNBORN WILL VENERATE THE MEMORY_/OF THE MAN WHO OBTAINED THEIR COUNTRYS FREEDOM (in three concentric circular lines), a native American standing facing, head left, draped at the waist, holding an upright arrow with his right hand, leaning on a bow with his left arm, quiver over his shoulder; around, THE LAND WAS OURS•. Baker 85. EF, attractive deep mahogany brown surfaces, light scratches and marks, some minor porosity.

One of the most impressive medals ever issued to honor George Washington, in this case by the pro-American British Quaker, Daniel Belteshazzar Plantagenet Eccleston. Eccleston (circa 1745–1821), was a Quaker merchant and insurance broker in Lancaster, England. He traveled as a young man in Antigua, Barbados, Canada, and the United States. In 1794, he issued a halfpenny token that circulated in Lancaster, Manchester, and Liverpool.

Eccleston produced bronze medals to honor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and George Washington in 1805, sending the latter to Thomas Jefferson, Bushrod Washington, and John Marshall in 1807, James Madison on 1 January 1810 and, at some point, Alexander I of Russia. Eccleston had met Washington, and even stayed at Mount Vernon on one of his trips to America.

The reverse type refers to another of Eccleston’s passions–aboriginal rights–and as a result, this medal is often called “satirical”.