Watch List notes:

Commemorative Medals, USA, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, James Joseph Sylvester (1814-1897), copper medal, 1883, by C. E. Barber, bust of Sylvester left, with flowing beard, SYLVESTER behind head, rev. legend around and within oak wreath, PER SEPTEM ANNOS IN VNIVERSITATE AB IOHNS HOPKINS FVNDATA PROFESSOR, 64mm, mint state, scarce
*ex Watts Collection
James Joseph Sylvester, FRS, English mathematician. He was appointed the inaugural professor of mathematics at the new Johns Hopkins University and insisted that his salary of $5,000 be paid in gold. He was the founder of the American Journal of Mathematics.