Carthagena coin/medal

[Ted_C-migration]

I have a coin/medal that I'm very curious about. It's about 1 1/2 inches diameter, made of bronze or maybe copper, I'm not sure which. On the front printed in the outer perimeter of the coin, it says "ADMIRAL VERNON VEIWING THE TOWN OF CARTHAGENA". The lettering in not uniform and different in size.There appears to be a man holding some sort of object in his left handwhile he's appaerently walking as his right leg is crossed behind his left leg. In the foreground there are ships and maybe what is supposed to be the town of Carthagena. There's a date of 1740 (?) on the bottom of the face. On the back it says, again around the perimeter of the coin "THE FORTS OF CARTHAGENA DESTROYED BY ADL VERNON". Again there is a date on the bottom I think it says 1741. There are shhips depicted on the coin of various sizes and maybe a town in the foreground.

 

How can I tell if this is real or bogus? Is there any value to this coin/medal? Where could I go in the Seattle,WA area to have it cleaned or evaluated?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

[coinman1794]

The Carthagena (cart-ah-hay-nia) Expedition was orchastrated between 1739 and 1741 by the British navy against the Spanish, whose wealth from that colony was becomming more than England could bare in the merchantile economy of the 18th century. Many British-American colonists took part in it, including George Washington's half brother, Lawrence. I think Admiral Vernon was the ranking commander, and I think a number of Admiral Vernon medals were struck at some point afterwards. You can see a lot of them in the Heritage auction archives:

 

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=3004&Lot_No=21482#

 

The storming of Portabello was a hilarious military affair. While taking one of the forts, they set up camp on one side of the mountain, and attacked it from the opposite, lobbing cannon balls over the fort and into their own camp, if I recall correctly.

[coinman1794]

This may get more attention if re-posted in the world coin forum.

[Ted_C-migration]

Thank you "coinman1794" I've done that and now we'll see. You can tell I'm new at this sort of thing.

Ted