Washington Monument & Statue Medals

About This Coin

Commemorating the various monuments, statues, and memorials erected to honor George Washington across the United States, these medals within the George Washington Medals series document the physical landscape of Washington commemoration from the cornerstone-laying of the Washington Monument in 1848 through subsequent decades of statue dedications and memorial installations. The Washington Monument in the nation's capital — begun in 1848 and completed in 1884 after a prolonged construction hiatus caused by the Civil War and funding disputes — generated the most significant cluster of commemorative medals, with pieces struck for the cornerstone ceremony, the capstone placement, and the formal dedication each representing milestone events in the monument's troubled but ultimately triumphant construction history. Medals commemorating equestrian statues, standing figures, and architectural memorials erected in cities across the country — Richmond, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and numerous other communities — further expand this category, documenting the extraordinary proliferation of Washington monuments that made his image the most frequently depicted in American public sculpture. The George Washington Medals catalog provides systematic die numbers and attribution data for these monument and statue medals, organizing them by the specific memorial being commemorated and the manufacturer responsible for production. Designs typically feature the monument or statue on one side and a portrait of Washington or a dedicatory inscription on the other, creating medallic records that document both the physical appearance of the memorial and the ceremonial context of its installation. Notable auction results reaching five figures confirm strong collector demand for scarce monument medals, particularly those associated with the Washington Monument itself, whose lengthy and dramatic construction history provides rich narrative context that elevates these medals beyond standard commemorative fare into the realm of documented American cultural history.