Description:

Washington George

George Washington relic, Mt. Vernon wooden frame


This George Washington relic, circa 1859, was harvested from trees on the property of Mount Vernon, the 1st U.S. President’s family estate in northeastern Virginia. In near fine condition, the sight size measuring 2” diameter, the actual size of the frame measuring 3.25” diameter. Some uneven wear to frame edge and peripheral paper label loss.


A beveled wooden roundel frame, likely oak, encloses an engraving of George Washington’s estate Mount Vernon covered behind convex glass. A bas relief profile of the president at center is flanked by patriotic motifs such as Olympia, a shield, and an olive wreath. The eastern façade of Mount Vernon is visible in the upper right background of the image, as is a sailing vessel on the Potomac River at upper left. Design, engraving, and copyright information encircle the image. “Warranted from Mount Vernon” engraved along top left verso.


The printed paper label at back reads: “Washington, DC … 1859. I hereby certify that the picture-frame-stamped ‘From Mount Vernon, J. Crutchett’ to which this is attached, was manufactured at the ‘Mount Vernon Factory’ from wood grown at Mount Vernon, the home and resting-place of the immortal George Washington, in agreement with the accompanying printed certificates of John A. Washington Esq., proprietor of Mount Vernon, and his Honor the Mayor of Washington City, dated Nov. 12th 1856. This beautiful gem gives an artistic likeness of General Washington together with a view of the mansion of Mount Vernon & tomb of Washington. J. Crutchett. This beautiful gem, framed in Mt. Vernon Wood, can only be had, wholesale and retail, at Horace Barnes & Co. 123 Washington Street, Boston, or their Agents throughout the United States”.


James Crutchett (died 1889) contracted with Washington descendant John Augustine Washington (1821-1861) to establish the Washington, DC-based Mount Vernon Factory in 1852. Crutchett operated the factory for only a nine-year period before it was confiscated by the U.S. government at the onset of the Civil War. The factory incorporated wood, flowers, and vines from Mount Vernon into frames, plaques, canes, and other mementoes. Mount Vernon Factory souvenirs originally came with authenticating certificates (not included in this lot). Crutchett, an English expatriate and former gas company employee, claimed that Washington was not sufficiently memorialized; his Mount Vernon Factory souvenirs kept the general and president in the public eye.




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