The George Washington letter (with accompanying facsimile medal) about Anthony Wayne's Stoney Point medal, Sotheby's NY, April 14, 2010, Lot 179, SOLD, with buyers premium, for $98,500.

I see that Sotheby's misread the name "Dr. Mease" as "Dr. Mean" in its catalog entry. I am glad that The E-Sylum had such an educated discussion (January 17, 2010), where I learned about Dr. James Mease, of Philadelphia, early medal cataloger.

By coincidence, a friend recently brought me, from Rome, a catalog of an exhibit there on Charlotte Bonaparte (1802-1839) at the Museo Napoleonico. Charlotte, an artist, was a daughter of Joseph Bonaparte and I was interested in her visit (1821-1824) to his estate, Point Breeze, Bordentown, NJ. Charlotte writes in French and the catalog is in Italian; but I did figure out that Charlotte was very friendly with Dr. Mease's sister (who is described very amusingly) who was staying at a neighboring estate.

Charlotte comments mostly about how Dr. Mease's sons had to change their last name to Butler in order to obtain vast inheritance from their grandfather, Pierce Butler [at first John Mease would not do it]. I discovered details of this story easily online. It is odd that the Museo Napoleonico footnote identifying Dr. Mease reads " Il medico James Mease (?-?)". There is lot of biography information on the Internet now - and, of course, known to Esylum readers!

PS - Malcolm Bell, Jr., Major Butler's Legacy, Univ. of GA, 1987, says "Mease" is pronounced "Mays." Is this correct?