(1877) Bronze Medal GW-944B, Bookplate

Coin Details

Description

This bronze medal cataloged as GW-944B features a bookplate design, produced circa 1877. Bookplate medals — also called ex libris medals — were used to mark book ownership, pressed into or attached to the inside cover of a volume. The combination of Washington's portrait with a bookplate design indicates this was intended for a collector whose library focused on Americana, Revolutionary War history, or Washingtoniana. The bronze composition provided durability appropriate for a piece that would be handled alongside books. The GW-944B catalog number with its alphabetic suffix indicates this is a variant within a larger bookplate medal group. Bookplate medals represent an unusual intersection of numismatics and bibliophilia, documenting the collecting habits and personal identities of nineteenth-century American book collectors. Washington's image on a bookplate conveyed both patriotic identity and intellectual seriousness, associating the book owner with the erudition and civic virtue of the founding generation.

Rarity Notes

GW-944B, bronze. Bookplate medal. Specialized purpose limits collector base but ensures scarcity. Unusual type.

Cross References

PCGS #930434; GW-944B; Bookplate, bronze