Lusterrules So-Called Dollars

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This is an exceptionally rare medal. In fact, so little was known about it that when Hibler & Kappen published the first edition of their ground breaking work ‘So-Called Dollars an Illustrated Standard Catalog’ in 1963, they mistakenly attributed it to being made for the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition. Is has since been proven that it was actually made for the Confederate States of America Election of 1861. It is struck on a thick planchet made of bronzed copper and features a military bust of George Washington surrounded by the words “Unity of government is the main pillar of independence” on the obverse and a quote “He is a free man Whom the truth Makes free” from the English poet William Cowper on its reverse. Its surfaces are boldly struck and exhibit a pleasing mahogany brown color. Only 11 of these medals are believed to have been struck. The NGC and PCGS population reports show only one example of this medal graded by each service, the NGC piece at MS-63 and this piece graded SP-65 by PCGS being the finest known. The overall listed rarity is R7 (11-20 known). Provenance: Ex William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897.