The obverse shows a left-facing bust of Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross within a circular field at the center of a five-pointed star, with rays filling the space between the star's points out to a concentric ring. "GOV. L. S. ROSS" is struck in small letters beneath the bust. The outer band reads "INTER STATE DRILL" above and "★ AUSTIN, TEX. 1888 ★" below, within a beaded border.
The reverse shows a front-elevation view of the new Texas State Capitol with its dome, set on a hatched ground, beneath the legend "DEDICATION OF THE TEXAS STATE CAPITOL." Below the building are "→ OFFICIAL SOUVENIR ←" and a ribbon inscribed "PATENTED DEC. 6, 1887," with "AUSTIN, TEXAS MAY 16, 1888" around the base. A tiny die-sinker's signature, "WARNER," appears at the right end of the ground line.
Design by John Wharton Maxey of Austin, U.S. Design Patent D17,920, filed Nov 4, 1887, granted Dec 6, 1887 (patent file wrapper). Manufacturer unknown; Capitol face signed "WARNER" on the ground line. Holed at 12 o'clock for suspension; struck with the event wording the patent examiner had disallowed. Obverse/reverse per Maxey's specification.
The 1888 Texas Capitol dedication medallion is a scarce 19th-century Austin souvenir piece with only three recorded sales, ever. When it does surface, it tends to show up in worn, holed, or hand-me-down condition consistent with its age and original use as a wearable souvenir.
| Date | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 12, 2025 | 25.00 | Most RecentUnverifiedPhoto shows a star/state-seal design, not the capitol building shown on the other two sales; different design, included pending Tex's confirmation |
| Aug 6, 2025 | 72.00 | Capitol-building design (per photo); listing states holed for hanging |
| Feb 17, 2025 | 90.00 | Highest EverCapitol-building design (per photo) |
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1888 Texas State Capitol Dedication Medal Overview
The 1888 Texas State Capitol Dedication Medal is the official souvenir of the dedication of the Texas State Capitol in Austin on May 16, 1888, and of the Inter State Military Drill held in the city the same week. The dedication was a week-long celebration that drew close to twenty thousand visitors, and the drill — a competitive exhibition of militia companies from Texas and other states — was its principal public spectacle. The medal ties the two events together on one piece of metal: the Capitol on one face, the Governor and the drill on the other.
The design was the work of John Wharton Maxey of Austin, who applied for a design patent on November 4, 1887, through the Washington patent attorneys Louis Bagger & Co. His specification described a souvenir badge “intended to commemorate the dedication of the State Capitol at Austin, Texas, and the Inter-State Military Drill which is to be held in connection therewith, in the year 1888,” with a likeness of Governor L. S. Ross set in the Lone Star on one side and the new Capitol on the other, suspended from a bar of crossed rifles gripped by an eagle. The Patent Office examiner struck every event-specific element — the Ross portrait, the words “Inter-State Drill” and “Austin, Tex., 1888,” and the dedication reference — as trademark matter rather than patentable design, and allowed only the generic layout. U.S. Design Patent D17,920, “Design for a Badge or Medal,” issued December 6, 1887, for a term of three and one-half years. The medal as struck nonetheless carries all the wording the examiner had removed, together with the patent date on its Capitol face.
The medal is holed at twelve o’clock for suspension. Maxey’s specification allowed the crossed-rifle bar to be “dispensed with, if desired, or replaced by ornamentation of a different character,” and examples survive both as bare holed medals and mounted on bars and ribbons. A companion souvenir of the same event, reading “CAMP ROSS / AUSTIN INTERSTATE DRILL,” uses a different Capitol view and a military-trophy reverse and is catalogued separately.
A century later the Capitol face of this medal was reproduced, at the same 45 mm diameter and with the patent ribbon intact, as the obverse of the 1988 Texas Capitol Centennial Silver Medal.
1888 Texas State Capitol Dedication Medal Attribution
The designer and patentee is documented directly by the patent file: John Wharton Maxey of Austin, Travis County, Texas, sworn as sole inventor before a Travis County notary on October 22, 1887. Whether Maxey also sold the medal, or licensed the design to a vendor, is not established by the file.
The manufacturer is not named on the patent or in any located sales record. The Capitol face carries a small signature reading “WARNER” on the ground line, in the position a die-sinker customarily signed work of this period. That signature is the only manufacturer evidence presently on the piece and has not yet been matched to a documented engraver or medal firm; the maker is therefore recorded as unknown pending identification of the signature.
Obverse and reverse follow Maxey’s own designation in the patent specification: the Ross-and-star face is the obverse, the Capitol face the reverse.
1888 Texas State Capitol Dedication Medal Notes
- Companion piece: the Camp Ross / Austin Interstate Drill token, a separate design for the same event.
- The Capitol face was reproduced in 1988; see the 1988 Texas Capitol Centennial Silver Medal.
- The “WARNER” signature is an open research lead for the manufacturer.
1888 Texas State Capitol Dedication Medal References
- U.S. Patent Office file wrapper, Design Patent D17,920, serial no. 254,339 — petition, specification, affidavit, examiner’s action of November 11, 1887, amendment of November 15, 1887, and notice of allowance of November 16, 1887 (copy in the Texas Stacker Archives)
- Documented example examined (this entry)
- Texas Stacker Archives
