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Country: United States
Washington Pieces (1783-1795)
Type: Standard circulation coin
Year: 1783 (1830-1840)
Currency: Dollar (Token)
Composition: Copper
Grade: F12
Weight: 7 g
Diameter: 28.3 mm
Shape: Round
Orientation: Coin alignment ↑↓
Demonetized: Yes
References: Vlack# 13-5
Obverse:
Draped bust left of George Washington and wearing laureal wreath (no button).
Lettering: Washington & Independence . 1783 . Letter I under the Bust, in the drape: the Engraver Thomas Wells Ingram.
Reverse:
Liberty seated on the rock holding sprig/branch in one hand and spear with Phrygian cap in the other (similar to Britannia).
Lettering: United States
Edge: Smooth.
Comment:
Fuld then suggested the tokens had been produced ca. 1815-1820 and looked for a diemaker during that era who could be identified with the mysterious initials T.W.I. or E.S, which are found on the Draped and Military Bust tokens. He came up with Thomas Wells Ingram an engraver and die sinker at the Soho mint in Birmingham from 1820 until the plant closed in 1848. Ingram seems to have survived until 1865. Fuld suggested the E.S. referred to Edward Savage an artist who had drawn profile portraits of Washington in both military and civilian dress. From Fuld's ground breaking work we now suspect the Military and Draped Bust Washington token were produced sometime after 1815 by Thomas Wells Ingram.
One of the current questions is how long after 1815 were the tokens produced? Fuld considered the die cutting on the two signed Washington tokens to be "not superior" and therefore assumed they were among Ingram's first works, thus he assigned the token to 1815-1820. This assessment is clearly subjective and is based on the idea that all these token are original products (Breen supposes all TWI initialed coins are imitations by another mint!). If we assume Ingram is the die maker and we know he did not start working for a coining mint until 1820 it would seem more probable to assign the tokens to a somewhat later period. In 1978 Vlack stated this series of 1783 Washington tokens, "were manufactured in England sometime during the mid-1800's, possibly as early as 1820."
Interestingly, Breen states the Military Bust token was listed as current in Thompson's Coin Chart Manual for 1848, published annually in New York and Fuld had noted the Draped Bust token was listed as current in Thomas Lord, Supplement to the Cincinnati Detector and Bank Note Reporter, Cincinnati: Thomas Lord, 1853, p. 24. Thus, we can be certain both tokens circulated in America and were produced before 1853. We do know the Soho mint closed in 1848. Soon thereafter the London coin dealer W. J. Taylor purchased several of the old Soho hubs and dies, included among them were the obverse and reverse hubs used to produce dies for the Draped Bust Washington tokens, which Taylor used to produce restrikes including a Melbourne token dated 1851. Thus, for both the Draped Bust and the Military Bust varieties, we can narrow the time period to between 1820 and 1848, with the 30's or 40's appearing more likely as both tokens were still in circulation at mid century.
The obverse of the Draped or Mantled Washington bust token depicts a laurel wreathed Washington facing left in a toga with the legend "WASHINGTON AND INDEPENDENCE" and the date 1783, commemorating the end of the Revolutionary War. The reverse similar to the Military Bust token with a female figure seated on a rock surrounded by water. In her extended right hand she holds an olive branch and in her left she holds a staff with a liberty cap on top. On this reverse the pole rests at the figure's forearm, it leans more than on the Military Bust reverse where the pole rests on the figure's shoulder. This figure was first used as Britannia on Soho company coinage of 1797. However in the present context with the liberty cap and the legend above her which reads "UNITED STATES" I suspect she is meant to represent Liberty. On some varieties the initials T.W.I. and E.S are found in exergue on the reverse. They stand for the engraver Thomas Wells Ingram who modeled his work on a Washington portrait by the Philadelphia painter Edward Savage.
Riferimento : Vlack# 13-5
Fonte : https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/ea...
Collezione : US Colonial Issues, Tokens USA & North America (1616-date)