(1790s) Medal Washington-Success Small, Reeded Edge, Silvered (Regular Strike)

Washington Success medals are somewhat enigmatic in that researchers are unsure about who issued them and when. Some experts believe they were issued for Washington's second inauguration, but others believe the style and fabric of the tokens suggests a much later issue. Either way, these interesting tokens are popular among collectors of both U.S. Colonial coins and Washingtonia. Success medals come in both large and small sizes, with plain or reeded edges, in brass or copper, and sometimes with silvering applied at the time of manufacture (or shortly thereafter) to give the coins the appearance of a silver coin.

The silver wash applied to some of these coins was very thin, and it wore off quickly, often exposing the underlying metal. As might be expected, the value of the silvered tokens increases with the percentage of silvering that remains.

Among the silvered examples certified by PCGS, the finest is a single PCGS MS63. That piece, illustrated above, has nearly full silvering.