Beschreibung:

[Washington, Lawrence]: [Seal of Lawrence Washington, The Nephew Of George Washington]. [ca. 1791-1795] Gold holder contains the blue calligraphy seal of “LW.” Seal face measures 7/8" x 1". Lacquered numbers “6642” is found on the back of the seal. The numbers are believed to have been inventory numbers of Lawrence’s son's personal property. Dr. Lawrence Washington’s estate was documented then sold. He then moved out west with his family to Texas. Daley Hawley, collector of one the one most important GW Inaugural buttons collections presented a seal thought to have been Martha Washington’s. This newly rediscovered seal would represent “The First Lady Of Liberty”. The seal bearing a style of identical dotting that shows the same tooling of the bordering around the monogram of the GW Inaugural chain link buttons and the “MW” monogram. The Lawrence Washington seal gives credible evidence that the “MW” lady liberty seal is Martha’s. The “MW” bears the same identical lacquered brushed stroked numbers “4724”. The seal is a wonderful association to the family of George Washington and to the Virginia gentry of the Federal era. This is the seal of Lawrence Washington that would have been used by him in sealing letters and documents. Lawrence would have acquired the seal in his early adulthood after his schooling had concluded and toward the beginning of his legal career. Lawrence Augustine Washington (1775-1824) was the fourth son of George Washington’s younger brother Samuel. When Samuel Washington died in 1781, the future President took it upon himself to provide for the education of his nephews Lawrence and his older brother George Steptoe Washington. Throughout the 1780's and early 1790's, Washington supervised and paid for their education in Alexandria, Virginia, and then at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, from which the nephews graduated in 1792. While in Philadelphia, Lawrence also studied law with Attorney General Edmond Randolph. He married Dorcus Wood in 1797 and lived at Federal Hill, outside Winchester, Virginia. At the time of George Washington’s death, Lawrence and his brother were absolved of all their debts for their schooling which was then around five thousand dollars. President Washington even left the brothers portions of the Mount Vernon estate and many important personal objects. Lawrence and his brother often caused trouble for their Uncle, and it appears that Lawrence was the more rambunctious of the two. When Lawrence was twelve years old he was accused of attacking the five year old daughter of Samuel Hanson, with whose family he was staying with in Alexandria while he studied. Later the same year, however, Hanson was reporting to George Washington that Lawrence's conduct had improved. "‘From a perverse, insolent, unmannerly boy, he is transformed into an obliging, civil’ & respectful one” (Hanson letter to George Washington on May 4th, 1788). Lawrence’s behavior continued to be erratic, ranging from well mannered and obedient to disrespectful and violent toward Hanson, who in one letter to George Washington describes his nephew as a “great sloven”. This seal, along with two of George Washington’s personal seal fobs, including the Presidents ring seal and George Washington’s coat of arms watch seal, presently are the only known surviving seals to exist of any and all the Washington direct family males. This seal comes from the celebrated collection of Richard Townley Haines Hasley. Hasley, a Princeton Graduate and stockbroker by trade, was an intense Americanist. He believed that by promoting the history of American craftsmanship, modern American industry would be better protected against the intrusion of foreign made goods. Hasley began collecting in the 1890’s and continued through the 1920’s. His mission to advance modern scholarship of American decorative arts reached its zenith in 1924 with the opening of the American wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hasley gave liberally of his exp