Button

Status

Not on view

Label Text

George Washington's inauguration as the first president of the United States inspired enterprising craftsman to issue commemorative buttons with patriotic designs. This coat button features Washington's cipher surrounded by the salute "Long Live the President," the phrase pronounced by Robert Livingston after administering the oath of office to Washington on April 30, 1789 at Federal Hall in New York.

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Datec. 1789-1797

Geography Made - United States

Medium/TechniqueCopper alloy

DimensionsOverall: 3/8 in. x 1 7/16 in. x 1 7/16 in. (0.97 cm x 3.63 cm x 3.63 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley DeForest Scott, 2005

Object numberM-4395

DescriptionCircular copper alloy button; stamped design with dotted script cipher "GW" in central circle encircled by a circular band around the rim with the words "LONG LIVE THE PRESIDENT" with the three spaces between the words filled with a dot and a device of a six-pointed star surrounded by a circle of twelve tiny stars placed between the first and last words of the phrase; both the central circle and rim band have a stippled background; plain edge; reverse plain with brazen alpha shank.
Published ReferencesStack's, John J. Ford, Jr. Collection: Coins, Medals, and Currency Part II May 11, 2004 (New York: Stack's, 2004), lot 224.

J. Harold Cobb, George Washington Inaugural Buttons and Medalets ed. Kirk Mitchell and Elmer A. Piercy (Private printing, 2005), 19. http://moscow2.pld.com/kirk/CobbGW/index.html
(general reference)

Russell Rulau and George Fuld, Medallic Portraits of Washington (Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, Inc., 1999), 243. (general reference)

Edmund B. Sullivan, American Political Badges and Medalets (Lawrence, Massachusetts: Quarterman Publications, Inc., 1981), 1. (general reference)

Alphaeus Albert, Washington Historical Buttons (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1949), 43. (general reference)

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