‘The first Masonic medal’

     

Leftfield Pictures/History Channel

A segment from the once popular television program Pawn Stars uploaded to YouTube this week exhibits what was called “the first Masonic medal.” The token has George Washington in profile and the date 1797 on the obverse, and a collection of Craft lodge symbols on the reverse.

Leftfield Pictures/History Channel

Not knowing much about such a thing, pawn shop proprietor and star of the show Rick Harrison summoned an expert numismatist and appraiser to explain what it’s about. David Vagi, director of Numismatic Guaranty Company in Florida (he is flown to Vegas for his appearances), is renowned as an authority on coins from the ancient world, but I’m skeptical about his knowledge of things Masonic. As you know, our fraternity is a quirky society with practically endless possibilities and improbabilities in its material culture, as we’ll see here.

When Vagi termed this piece “literally the first Masonic medal; what they call Masonic pennies,” I lost faith in his evaluation. But he also said it was struck by Peter Getz, a Pennsylvania Mason who worked as a silversmith and engraver, which is corroborated by historical and numismatic sources.

And then there’s the November 1974 issue of The Pennsylvania Freemason, the periodical of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. A short article accounting for the then seven medallions known to have been commissioned by the Grand Lodge (I don’t know if there have been more from the past fifty years) says:

Click to enlarge.

Washington 1797 Medallion

The rarest medallion in the collection is the Washington medallion struck by Grand Lodge in 1797.

It was struck in recognition of the anticipated election of Bro. Washington as General Grand Master of Masons in the United States.

The proceedings of Grand Lodge, dated January 13, 1780, states:

“The Ballot was put upon the Question: Whether it be for the Benefit of Masonry and ‘a grand Master of Masons thro’out the United States’ shall now be nominated on the part of this Grand Lodge…

Sundry, respectable Brethren, being put in nomination, it was moved that the Ballot be put to them separately, and His Excellency George Washington, Esquire, General and Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States being first in nomination, he was balloted for accordingly as Grand Master, and Elected by the unanimous vote of the whole Lodge.”

 

This action of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania did not meet with favor by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. The office was never established.

It created the belief among Masons that such an office did exist, and that Washington occupied it. The error was further compounded by the abbreviated legend on the reverse of the medal:

“G.W.G.G.M.” – George Washington General Grand Master.

The medal is of bronze, 1 3/8 inches in diameter and 1/16 inch thick. One side of the medal has the bust of Washington in uniform and carries the legend “G. Washington, President, 1797.”

The reverse side shows emblems of Masonry surrounded by the inscription “AMOR • HONOR • JUSTITIA,” and the initials “G.W.G.G.M.”

Around the rim on both sides is a rope-like design which could symbolize the cable tow.

The medal closely resembles both in drawing and execution the Washington half dollars of 1792 engraved by Bro. Peter Getz of Lancaster, Pa., a Past Master of Lodge No. 43, F&AM of Lancaster.

Two of the three known medals are in the Grand Lodge collection.

In the end, Mr. Vagi valued this piece at $40,000, “maybe a touch more.” Mr. Harrison and the seller did not achieve a meeting of the minds.

If you’re scratching your head over “the Washington half dollars of 1792” because Washington didn’t appear on a U.S. coin until 1932 (and he would have been appalled at the suggestion his likeness should appear on the Republic’s money), don’t doubt your sanity. “Medals, tokens, and coinage proposals in this interesting series [of Washington pieces] dated from 1783 to 1795 bear the portrait of George Washington,” says the guide known informally as “Yeoman’s Red Book.” “Many of these pieces were of English origin and were made later than their dates indicate.”

Whitman Publishing, LLC

“Dies engraved by Peter Getz of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are believed to have been made to produce a half dollar and cent as a proposal to Congress for a private contract coinage before the Philadelphia Mint became a reality,” the book also says. Now, if you have one of those, you could be looking at six figures, depending on which one and its condition.