Wooden Medals and Plaques of the 1876 Centennial Exposition

Set Description
This is the second year of a dedicated effort to expand this set. For 2023 I upgraded six of the medals from last year, added two new medals, and added 11 plaques. As of late October 2023, all 23 listed medals and plaques represent the top grade at NGC, six are the only graded example, and 13 of the 23 have a population of one or two. I hope you enjoy viewing these unusual numismatic rarities as much as I enjoy collecting them.
Round, pressed wood medals and rectangular pressed wood plaques were primarily made by the Ornamental Wood Company of Philadelphia. The round medals were sold in a boxed six-coin set and the rectangular plaques were sold individually. An excellent article by Donald G. Tritt in the July 2014 issue of The Numismatist provides an in-depth look at how these medals and plaques came to be, describes each variety, and provides a rarity and value estimate. The medals were originally cataloged by John Holland in the January 1876 issue of the American Journal of Numismatics, but the plaques were not listed until later. Hank Spangenberger, in the March 1969 edition of the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, attributed both the medals and plaques. Tritt utilizes both extensively in his article, but attribution of the individual medals is most often done with Holland numbers. Finally, in 2016's Medallic Washington by Neil Musante, three of the four known Washington medals are included and listed by GW numbers--GW-864 for the Magna Est Veritas medal, GW-865 for the large Washington Bust with standard reverse, and GW-866 for the small Washington bust with standard reverse. Musanate did not include the large Washington bust with blank reverse, a medal attributed as GW-865A by NGC.
The original six medals, pressed from black walnut, included two 76mm in diameter and four 62mm versions, all with a common reverse inscription. Diameter and thickness can vary a millimeter or two due to inconsistency in the original blanks and shrinkage based upon different long term storage environments. The two large medals depicted the Main Building, H-66, and either Memorial Hall, H-67, or the Art Gallery, H-18. The four smaller medals were: the large Washington Bust, GW-865, H-14; Hawley, H-11; Gorshorn, H-12; and, Independence Hall, H-22. With the exception of the Magna Est Veritas medal, GW-864, H-73, believed to have been pressed from cherry wood, all the other varieties were also pressed from walnut. Finally, there is also a one-of-a-kind Independence Centennial Commission Medal pressed from walnut and 55mm in diameter and listed as Spangenberger 1876-1. The plaques, all notionally 100 x 69mm, had five different obverses representing buildings from the Exposition and came with an embossed or blank reverse. The five buildings are the Main Building (H-68/68A), Memorial Hall (H-69/69A), Horticultural Hall (H-70/70A), Agricultural Hall (H-71/71A), and Machinery Hall (H-72/72A).
The original boxes for the six-coin sets were made from thin cardboard and very difficult to find intact. They are likely rarer than the wooden medals themselves. The rectangular plaques came in individual boxes with lids in several colors, but I have yet to find one.
It is a testament to the workmanship and materials used to create these very special mementoes that they exist almost 150 years later in near pristine condition for our collecting and viewing pleasure.

Set Goals
Still looking for the blank reverse variety of Holland 67, Memorial Hall. I'm not convinced it exists, especially after finding a blank reverse Holland 22, Independence Hall, last month.