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Table of Contents > George Washington > Lot 130 |
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Browse the Auction in Groups of 25 Lots: |
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Lot Number: 130
Click for a Printable PageSign-in to Bid or Register to Bid Estimate Range: $8,000 - $12,000 |
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George Washington Inaugural Button “G W” with Eagle and Liberty Cap, Albert WI-23, Cobb “Unlisted” Major Variety |
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(1789) George Washington Inaugural Button, Eagle with “G - W” with Liberty Cap Above Major Design Type, Appears to be an Unlisted Variant, Cobb-Unlisted, Albert WI-23A, DeWitt-GW 1789-38, Baker-Unlisted, Copper, Traces of Gilt, Very Fine. 23 mm in size (not 25 mm as listed). Rarity-6 for Type; Very Rare as Albert’s Rarity-6 rating indicates that only 3 to 5 example known, likely Albert never saw this current button and had a faulty or incomplete listing description. This button’s design is definitely Albert Type WI-23, with “G - W” and a “Liberty Cap” above an American Heraldic Eagle, but unless the 25 mm size as listed in Albert is wrong, this example is of a previously Unlisted Size variety. This particular specimen has excellent sharpness to its devices and still has most of its original gold gilt on the Eagle, G - W letters, and the historic Liberty Cap. The shank is lacking from the back. The plain reverse side appears to have had some marking below the shank, but it is completely unreadable. The famous J. Harold Cobb collection of George Washington Inaugural Buttons was sold by Stack’s January 21, 2003, and it did not contain an example of this Variety, and this Variety is not listed in Cobb’s catalog of Washington Inaugural Buttons. A mint example of this design type sold for $8,400 in the Heritage sale of June 2005, and an Extremely Fine version sold for $7,170 in the Heritage auction of December 2005 (Shank lost).This current example exhibits strong sharp detail to the face designs, its surfaces that show uniform porosity roughness and cleaning long ago, leaving all the flat areas with a finely mottled copper-rose to deep steel-brown tone. The face recessed design features retain gilt, which seems to have protected them from the corrosive processes, as they remain quite sharp in detail, and extensive traces of the original gilding remain. As noted, the shank is lost, but around where it had been, a maker's mark clearly once existed. This is yet another “Variant” rarity, missing from the Cobb collection and its illustration plate, (though a few of this basic design type, in varying conditions, have appeared for sale). In 2018, Stacks offered an original set of six similar pieces, though they were “Unmarked” on the back. Regardless of all technical “Variant” discussion, collectors love the fabulous historic design so prevalent on this exception “Liberty Capped” George Washington Inaugural Button. |
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Lot Number: 130
Click for a Printable Page Sign-in to Bid or Register to Bid |
Estimate Range: $8,000 - $12,000 |
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Early American History Auctions, Inc. 1520 Commerce St., # 312 • Winchester, VA 22601 Phone: 858 • 759 • 3290 Email: Auctions@EarlyAmerican.com |
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