The medal's obverse bears likeness of George Washington, three quarters left. At upper right, GEORGE WASHINGTON; over right shoulder, BORN 1732 / DIED 1799; signed below, A Scharff.
The reverse depicts the newly erected Hall of Fame for Great Americans building at the University of New York. Above, HALL OF FAME FOR GREAT AMERICANS / ERECTED IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK IN 1900; in cartouche, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY CHARTERED - MDCCCXXXI / UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS PURCHASED - MDCCCXCI / UNIVERSITY COLLEGE REMOVED MDCCCXCIV / THIS HALL OF FAME WAS COMPLETED MCM / IN HONOR OF GREAT AMERICANS
This medal by famous Austrian medalist Anton Scharff can be regarded as the inaugural medal for the Hall of Fame of Great Americans medal series (which came much later) and is also a very beautiful George Washington medal by itself.
George Washington was immortalized on innumerable medals and coins but I like this one in particular as it shows him out of uniform and frontal rather than in profile. He looks like a regular man who just happened to become the father of a nation.
This medal is a part of most famous American Museum collections. It measures 72mm in diameter and was struck in both bronze and silver in unknown quantities.
References: Baxter 273