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Help with Trans-Mississippi and International Expo Bronze medal

Hi,

Just acquired this bronze medal from the Trans-Mississippi Expo at Omaha in 1898. It came with a number of medals for Edwin E. Howell, a relief map maker. I was hoping to find the list of recipients from the expo to see if he did indeed win one but no luck in finding how many were given out let alone to whom (only a partial list of some states that earned them). The reverse is not engraved though I understand this was an option for the recipients. Also any idea of rarity or rough value? Not planning on selling it so valuation is for insurance reasons (have to bump up my collection insurance anyway). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Randall

Comments

  • truebloodtrueblood Posts: 609 ✭✭✭✭

    Never saw this one before, it is very nice

  • tokenprotokenpro Posts: 846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've sold several unengraved bronze in the $110 - $175 (pristine) over the past few years. A quick check of HA & SB shows one engraved bronze @$60 and two gilt (gold medal) at $250-350 but all are 6 year old results. It's not a particularly scarce expo award medal.

  • @tokenpro said:
    I've sold several unengraved bronze in the $110 - $175 (pristine) over the past few years. A quick check of HA & SB shows one engraved bronze @$60 and two gilt (gold medal) at $250-350 but all are 6 year old results. It's not a particularly scarce expo award medal.

    Thanks! Appreciate the information. By chance do you have any information on the names of people who won them?

  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,466 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not scarce, but definitely a nicely designed award medal.

    In memory of my kitty Seryozha 14.2.1996 ~ 13.9.2016 and Shadow 3.4.2015 - 16.4.21
  • tokenprotokenpro Posts: 846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Randall said:

    @tokenpro said:
    I've sold several unengraved bronze in the $110 - $175 (pristine) over the past few years. A quick check of HA & SB shows one engraved bronze @$60 and two gilt (gold medal) at $250-350 but all are 6 year old results. It's not a particularly scarce expo award medal.

    Thanks! Appreciate the information. By chance do you have any information on the names of people who won them?

    No, the only partial award list that I know of was in the collection of Leonard Owen who was a major collector of Trans-Miss. You might check with the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha which has a vast array of Western material (including Nebraska items). If you're near Omaha, that museum houses the Byron Reed collection of coins and other material. (Side note - I appraised their large sutler token collection quite a few years ago -- no idea if it is still in their hands.)

  • @tokenpro said:

    @Randall said:

    @tokenpro said:
    I've sold several unengraved bronze in the $110 - $175 (pristine) over the past few years. A quick check of HA & SB shows one engraved bronze @$60 and two gilt (gold medal) at $250-350 but all are 6 year old results. It's not a particularly scarce expo award medal.

    Thanks! Appreciate the information. By chance do you have any information on the names of people who won them?

    No, the only partial award list that I know of was in the collection of Leonard Owen who was a major collector of Trans-Miss. You might check with the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha which has a vast array of Western material (including Nebraska items). If you're near Omaha, that museum houses the Byron Reed collection of coins and other material. (Side note - I appraised their large sutler token collection quite a few years ago -- no idea if it is still in their hands.)

    Thanks for the information. I’ll definitely follow up with those leads. Unfortunately I live in NY state so it will need to be Internet searches but I’m an IT guy so know my way around a search engine. Thanks again! Wishing well, Randall

  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 23,898 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Your medal seems to be in very nice condition. Often award medals like that are roughly treated by the people in following generations.

    All glory is fleeting.
  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,350 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This should be what you are looking for:

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • @StrikeOutXXX said:
    This should be what you are looking for:

    Thanks so much. I think I found him (if there were typos). I found:

    Powell, F.F. G.M. Colelctive Exhibit of relief maps.

    E.E. Howell was known for his relief maps. The name is too close to be a coincidence.

    Thanks again,
    Randall

  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,350 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 4, 2021 7:02PM

    @Randall said:

    @StrikeOutXXX said:
    This should be what you are looking for:

    Thanks so much. I think I found him (if there were typos). I found:

    Powell, F.F. G.M. Colelctive Exhibit of relief maps.

    E.E. Howell was known for his relief maps. The name is too close to be a coincidence.

    Thanks again,
    Randall

    That text file I pulled from a wayback machine of a defunct website.

    Found an active one below, but the spelling was still Powell, but it also still shows a gold medal.

    https://trans-mississippi.unl.edu/texts/view/transmiss.book.wakefield.1903.html

    If you are really digging, perhaps that author had a type-o, but the Smithsonian has some records - box 49 & 50, not sure if you'd find anything interesting there:
    https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216677

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • @StrikeOutXXX said:

    @Randall said:

    @StrikeOutXXX said:
    This should be what you are looking for:

    Thanks so much. I think I found him (if there were typos). I found:

    Powell, F.F. G.M. Colelctive Exhibit of relief maps.

    E.E. Howell was known for his relief maps. The name is too close to be a coincidence.

    Thanks again,
    Randall

    That text file I pulled from a wayback machine of a defunct website.

    Found an active one below, but the spelling was still Powell, but it also still shows a gold medal.

    https://trans-mississippi.unl.edu/texts/view/transmiss.book.wakefield.1903.html

    If you are really digging, perhaps that author ohad a type-o, but the Smithsonian has some records - box 49 & 50, not sure if you'd find anything interesting there:
    https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216677

    Thanks I did also note that “collection or collective“ is also misspelled (Colelctive) in the record. It very well could be the OCR software misinterpreted the typed pages when they were scanned in. But you’re right, could be Powell. BTW, Howell did the relief maps for John Wesley Powell when he explored the Grand Canyon…

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