MILFORD, CT / ACCESS Newswire / July 2, 2026 / A new chapter has emerged in the historical research surrounding America’s earliest federal diplomatic artifacts, led not by historians alone, but by one of the world’s longest-practicing pioneers of holography.
Jason Arthur Sapan, is the founder of Holographic Studios in NYC, the oldest operating hologram art studio. Sapan is a pioneer of Holographic art. His studio is world renowned for more than half a century. He has released a public statement describing his independent examinations of George Washington Indian Peace Medals presented by Connecticut historical researcher Gary Gianotti,confirming that the founding US government art engravers at the birth of the US Federal government, mechanically by hand accomplished a previously unknown form of Diffraction art on Gianotti’s 1789 and 1792 silver George Washington medals. Sapan’s statement follows the recent national publication of Gianotti’s call for a reassessment of some of America’s earliest surviving federal diplomatic artifacts.
Sapan writes that when he was first contacted about the possibility of holographic or diffraction-related optical effects on eighteenth-century medals, he did not believe it possible. Gianotti spent years on a study with micro and esoteric signatures and maker’s marks that were a norm that mainstream coin and medals experts rejected. In his past published papers on the study. 2023 Gianotti hired a professional photographer to better capture visibly signed signatures of the artist on the medals he found. During the experiments with different light methods and lenses odd images were captured that he believed were holographic art discovered that predate the birth of holography in the 1940’s. When Gianotti contacted Sapan, his immediate reaction was disbelief.
“My first thought was that this is impossible,” Sapan wrote, explaining that holography depends upon modern optical principles developed 160 plus years after these medals were created.
His first examination focused on Gianotti’s officially attributed 1792 George Washington Indian Peace Medal.
According to Sapan, nothing appeared unusual until the medal was illuminated with a point-source halogen light.
“I suddenly saw a flash of color where a moment earlier there was nothing but metal. I almost dropped it.”
Sapan immediately called his students into the room to independently observe the phenomenon.
“As soon as they looked they had the same experience. We were seeing something that theoretically could not exist. Yet, there it was. All of us were stunned.”
Determined to understand what he had observed, Sapan researched David Rittenhouse, the first Director of the United States Mint. He discovered Rittenhouse’s documented work involving diffraction-the optical phenomenon that separates light into its constituent colors and forms part of the scientific foundation of modern holography.
“Holograms work by bending light waves, just as diffraction does,” Sapan explained. “I felt that I was seeing a lost technology that had waited for centuries to be rediscovered. And here it was in my hands.”
Following that examination, Gianotti states that Sapan later examined his 1789 George Washington Indian Peace Medal in his collection months later. where Sapan likewise reported observing diffraction-related optical characteristics. Gianotti believes Sapan’s observations legitimately confirm one of the most significant optical discoveries in American art. This gives the case for continued scientific examination of additional authenticated early American medals and related federal-period artifacts that Gianotti owns and has access to let scientists and Sapan confirm that the mechanical work is there. He leaves art interpretations to individuals who can see thesehidden early art images being revealed before them.
Sapan’s scientific confirmation and conclusions carry weight because of his long career in holography art. Hecreated art pieces under the commission of Andy Warhol and many famous figures, including Royal families from around the world. His statement notes that he began working in holography during Bell Laboratories’ first public exhibition of holography and lasers in 1968, became a professional holographer in 1975, and today operates what he describes as the world’s oldest continuously operating holography laboratory and gallery. His work has included commissions for IBM, Sony, Mitsubishi, AT&T, the American Museum of Natural History, the Philadelphia Stock Market, and portraits of numerous internationally known public figures.
For more than thirty years, Gianotti has investigated rare early American artifacts, seeking to bring together documentary research with modern scientific analysis. He says Sapan’s authentication confirmation of the medals as legitimately having unique optical mechanics as the earliest form of a type of diffractive art to modern holography is a major rewriting of optical science and US art history being presented. This represents an important contribution to that ongoing effort. He hopes it will encourage historians, museum conservators, physicists, metallurgists, and optical scientists to examine additional surviving artifacts from the nation’s earliest years.
Sapan concludes his media statement with these words:
“The discovery of this lost technology is in my opinion a groundbreaking occurrence. It represents the first chapter in a mystery that will open new doors to our understanding of the past.”
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Gianotti believes the collaboration between historical research and modern optical science offers a new opportunity to study America’s earliest federal artistic and diplomatic achievements through interdisciplinary investigation on two of the most significant surviving Federal Government very first sovereign diplomat art.
Media Contact: Gary Gianotti
Email: gary.gianotti1@icloud.com
Web: Home – American Relic Hysteries
SOURCE: American Historic Relics & Art
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
