1921 Plymouth Tercentenary Medal

[leeg]

This one arrived a couple days ago and finally had an opportunity to image it. This example is still in the original card. Originality is very important to me and is a key factor in what I feel is a nice addition to my collection.

 

 

 

 

The medalet was struck by Whitehead & Hoag and has an integral loop at the top. This medal is 31mm in diameter and was issued with a red, white and blue ribbon on a a buff card that states "Official Souvenir Medal / Plymouth Tercentenary /Committee". The medal weighs 8.8 grams and was struck in bronze. Some of the medals were silver plated. This medal was catalogued as Storer number 1561 and Heath number MA239 9a & 9b.

 

Obv. Mayflower sailing to the right entering harbor at Plymouth. Below is the town seal with laurel branches to either side.

 

Rev. Wreath, torch and ribbon with 1620 and 1920 to either side. below are the works PILGRIM/TERCENTENARY/PLYMOUTH /1921."

 

 

 

 

 

Malcolm Storer -- the medical doctor whose father was Horatio Storer who gathered and published the monumental work on medical medals -- gathered, organized, described and published the work on Massachusetts numismatic items. His "Numismatics of Massachusetts" was published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1923.

 

Malcolm lists these medals for the 1920 Pilgrim Tercentennial:

Storer 1558 by G.L. Turner (struck by Reed & Barton).

Storer 1559 by the Dutch medalist Jan Pesynshof.

Storer 1560 by Cyrus E. Dallin (signed Dallin).

Storer 1561 by Julio Kilenyi (unsigned but struck and signed by Whitehead & Hoag).

Storer 1562 and 1563. Unsigned (and probably created by some unknown factory artists, perhaps at Blackinton or Robbins, nearby New England medalmakers).

(Unfortunately Storer did not illustrate any of these medals.)

 

Fifty years later, a Massachusetts numismatist, Robert Heath, began collecting, organizing, describing, and published his "Commemorative Medals of New England Cities & Towns," beginning in 1977. His seventh Massachusetts edition (1995) lists five of these medals (omitting the Dutch medal); and adds one more. (His numbers: MA239-5 thru MA239-10).

 

Heath did not illustrate the Dallin medal, However, this medal is illustrated in the book by Rell G. Francis "Cyrus E. Dallin; Let Justice Be Done" as Figure 246, page 241.

 

Dallin did sign his models with his last name (he was a sculptor, not an engraver). An earlier artist on an 1883 Brooklyn Bridge Medal signed C.E.D. (same initials as Cyrus). He was an engraver, not a sculptor. All the work of this artist (we still do not know his identity) were struck by J.A. Diehl of Philadelphia.

 

Text from E-Sylum

[RWB]

Records of J.A. Diehl of Philadelphia are, I think, in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art in Washington DC. They might identify CED.

[johnny9434]

thats some neat information all. thanks for sharing

[TomB]

It's a very simple composition, but really quite lovely, too.