George Washington Inaugural Centennial Medal

Inscriptions

Obverse, top: • GEORGE • WASHINGTON •; [center]: • PATER • / PAT / RLÆ • / • M • D • C • C • L / XX / XIX • ; [obverse, under figure termination]: PHILIP • MARTINY • MODELER • DESIGN • AND • / COPYRIGHT • BY AVGVSTVS • SAINT-GAVDENS •; Reverse, top: TO • COMMEMERATE; [center]: THE • INAV / GVRATION / OF • GEORGE • WASHINGTON / AS • FIRST • PRESIDENT • OF • THE / VNITED-STATES • OF • AMERICA / AT • NEW • YORK • APRIL / • XXX • / • M • D • C • C • LXXXIX • / BY • AVTHORITY • OF / THE • COMMITTEE . ON • CELEBRATION / NEW • YORK • APRIL / • XXX • / • M • D • C • C • C • LXXXIX •; [on eagle's shield]: E / PLVRIBIS / VNIM

Label

The objects in this case function as relics, or things that physically link the past with the present. The cannonball from the Battle of Bennington, recorded as “ploughed up in 1894,” is a perfect example. The idea of the American Revolution also lived on through those who participated, including both everyday people like Samuel Peaslee, the owner of the powder horn who served in the 21st Regiment during the Revolutionary War, and famous figures such as George Washington. Other objects, including the pine tree shilling, took symbols like the pine tree featured on many Revolutionary-era flags and spread them widely. While many of these objects have little or no inherent value, their association with historical figures and events imbues them with symbolic power.

From the 2025-26 exhibition Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, curated by Michael W. Hartman (Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections), and Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow)

Course History

NAS 81.03, Pen and Ink Witchcraft: Native American History in Treaties, Collin Calloway, Winter 2019

NAS 81.03, HIST 96.08, Pen and Ink WItchcraft, Collin Calloway, Winter 2020

Exhibition History

Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, Harteveldt Family Gallery and Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 18, 2025 - August 8, 2026.

Publication History

Roger Arvid Anderson, The Roger Arvid Anderson Collection, Medals, Medallions, Plaquettes and Small Reliefs, Paintings, Sculpture, Works on Paper and Textiles, San Francisco: Roger Arvid Anderson (published privately), design by David L. Wilson, 2015, p. 223.

Provenance

Acquired by Roger Arvid Anderson, San Francisco, California, date unknown; lent to present collection, 1993; given to present collection, 2016.

Catalogue Raisonne

Dryfhout, No. 134

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Subjects