1866 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION MEDALETS
From American Political Badges and Medalets 1789 - 1892 by Edmund B. Sullivan.
The
Congressional Elections of 1866 were conducted during one of the most
agitaded periods of our national political history. The Executive and
legislative departments of the government were engaged in a violent
struggle ovet the issue of the method by which the seceeded states were
to be returned to the Union. Andrew Johnson, the president, decided to
take the issue to the people. A convention of Johnson men was held in
Philadelphia in August of 1866, after which Johnson decided to "swing
around the circle" by a trip to New York and the Middle West and back.
The trip turned into a fiasco, the Fall elections went badly against him
and before he left the presidential chair he was confronted by
impeachment proceedings which failed of fruition by only one vote.
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Andrew Johnson
DeWitt AJOHN 1866-4, silver?, 31mm
IMAGE NEEDED
DeWitt AJOHN 1866-4, copper, 31.2mm
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DeWitt AJOHN 1866-4, white metal, 31.4mm
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Sullivan does
not list these as the work of George H. but the following entry from The
Bankers Magazine and Statistical Register, July 1873 to June 1874, does
attribute these to him:
XIV. New Medals - Mr. Edward Cogan, No 408 State St, Brooklyn N.Y. offers for sale three new medals:
1. The Memorial Medal of the Boston Numismatic and
New England Historic-Genealogical Societies etc.....
2. The Johnson Medalet, referred
to in the February Number of the Numismatic Journal. Obverse—a bust of
the late President; legend, "Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the
United States." Reverse—combined arms of the United States and New
York City; inscription, "Public Reception and Banquet by the municipal
authorities of New York City, August 29, 1866." Size — about that of
the half-dollar. Number struck — silver, 5; copper, 50; tin, 75.
Price—in silver, $3; copper, $1; tin, 50c. The work is done by Mr. G.
H. Lovett. 3. A Memorial Medal, designed by an alumnus of Haverford College, and executed by the well-known artist, Geo. H. Lovett, of New York. etc......
Sullivan only list copper and white metal varieties so he either did not know of any silver examples or if only 5 were struck there may not have been any still in existence.