STEEL DIE CAST FOR ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, TABLE MEDALLION

Description

STEEL DIE CAST FOR ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, TABLE MEDALLION, POST CIVIL WAR
This steel die cast was used to produce the 70mm, Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address Commemorative Table Medallion.  Displays a Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, (right facing); signed C. Calverley on truncation; birth and death dates to left. Weight: 1 LB An example of the medallion is pictured only for reference. This is only for the die and does not include the actual medallion. Nice addition for the advanced Abraham Lincoln collections.
Provenance:
The back of this steel die is marked
86.29.6A
This number represents the catalog number from the Gettysburg Civil War Library and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which has since closed its doors.
The Museum was housed at 18th and Pine Streets in Philadelphia from 1922 until 2008, when it closed in anticipation of building a new museum in Philadelphia. Since 2010 the collection has been cared for by the Gettysburg Foundation and stored at the Gettysburg Battlefield Museum and Visitors Center, where artifacts have been exhibited in the main galleries and in the special exhibition for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
In 1886, several Companions of MOLLUS (Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States) began the formation of a Civil War Library and Museum to serve as a repository for their records, relics, memorabilia, souvenirs, artifacts, and awards. A charter and Certificate of Incorporation were granted on May 2, 1888 for the War Library and Museum of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Companion Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, was its first President. The collection was kept in various locations in Philadelphia until a house was purchased at 1805 Pine Street in 1922 to house the collection and to serve as the MOLLUS Headquarters. The Museum closed in 2008.  The collection is the result of over a century of acquisition and conservation of a full range of artifacts, documentary material, books, and memorabilia of the Civil War.
The Civil War Museum of Philadelphia was chartered in 1888, but the Museum’s history and its collection had their beginnings as the Civil War ended in 1865. A group of Union officers in Philadelphia came together after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, fearing that the War might start again. When that concern was allayed, these officers served as the honor guard for President Lincoln’s body as it lay in state in Independence Hall. They soon determined that they could commemorate the sacrifices and service of Union officers by forming an organization, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States [MOLLUS].  With headquarters in Philadelphia, “commanderies” were established in the states that supported the Union during the War.
The collection was created, for the most part, as a result of contributions of MOLLUS members, their families, and the leading citizens of the time. President Rutherford B. Hayes was the first President of what was then called the War Library and Museum. This provenance means that the personal stories, as well as, the war stories of these men can be told through the uniforms, diaries, weapons and other belongings in the collection. A bullet-struck pocket watch and bloody handkerchief tell as powerful a tale of the experience of battle, as the rifle and bayonet; a scrapbook with a letter from home and a lock of hair, as meaningful as a flag tattered by battle.
On March 4, 1865, only 41 days before his assassination, President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time. Lincoln's second inaugural address previewed his plans for healing a once-divided nation. The speech is engraved on the north interior wall of the Lincoln Memorial.
Due to the weight, this will be shipped USPS, Priority Mail, with Adult signature required.