Photo of the George Washington Silver Reliquary

Washington RelatedGeorge Washington Silver Reliquary by J. Paul Brown

c. 1891, Cabinet Card Photo of the George Washington Silver Reliquary, by J. Paul Brown, Wilmington, Delaware, Choice Extremely Fine.
6.5"" x 4.25"" sepia toned card with a close-up of the lid of the round reliquary box, which is decorated with a bust profile of “General Washington” in uniform. This silver reliquary was owned by the prominent Bayard family of Delaware. The photo has a gilt embossed facsimile signature of photographer J. Paul Brown, and the backstamp image of Brown’s gallery building is quite nice. This photo was presented to Hiram Hitchcock of New York by Thomas F. Bayard (Senator, former Secretary of State) in 1891 and is accompanied by the original postmarked mailing envelope. The silver box was made for James A. Bayard’s family to contain a lock of Washington’s hair, which Martha Washington gave to Mrs. Bayard just after the President’s death. The precious memento was kept in the family at least a hundred years. A neat, interesting item. The first we’ve seen!


James Bayard, a Wilmington lawyer and prominent Federalist congressman and Senator, cast the deciding vote in the election of 1800, making Jefferson President, not Burr. he was also a negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812."