NEWP: Rulau E9 World Map Medal, ca. 1815
jonathanb
Posts: 3,808 ✭✭✭✭✭
Stacks sold one of these medals a couple of years ago and ever since then I've been sort of annoyed that I didn't win it. Fortunately, everything appears on eBay if you're patient enough.
This unusual medal says nothing about who made it or why. It consists entirely of a map of the world, with the Western Hemisphere on one side of the medal and the Eastern Hemisphere on the other. This is a big medal, 73.9 mm (just under 3 inches) in diameter. It is a white-metal piece, still almost completely reflective, unlike the Stacks specimen which was almost completely non-reflective.
Stacks described it like this:
"Style of Sir Edward Thomason. Obv. Western hemisphere shows names United States, anachronistic New Albion, peninsula California, Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) in mid-Pacific. Rev. Eastern hemisphere offers few clues to date of striking but Australia and Tasmania appear as New Holland and Van Dieman's Land."
In addition to those, I particularly like the island of Owyhee (say it out loud) as the south-easternmost of the Sandwich Islands. Apparently, it's possibly to date the medal to 1815 or so, based on the particular combination of modern/archaic names used (for example, it mus have been struck after 1776 because it mentions the United Sta. but probably not much after that because that label is stuck to the eastern seabord.)
This is listed as Rulau E9 in Rulau's Discovering America.
(Cross-posted to the US and World Coin forums because, well, wouldn't you?)
This unusual medal says nothing about who made it or why. It consists entirely of a map of the world, with the Western Hemisphere on one side of the medal and the Eastern Hemisphere on the other. This is a big medal, 73.9 mm (just under 3 inches) in diameter. It is a white-metal piece, still almost completely reflective, unlike the Stacks specimen which was almost completely non-reflective.
Stacks described it like this:
"Style of Sir Edward Thomason. Obv. Western hemisphere shows names United States, anachronistic New Albion, peninsula California, Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) in mid-Pacific. Rev. Eastern hemisphere offers few clues to date of striking but Australia and Tasmania appear as New Holland and Van Dieman's Land."
In addition to those, I particularly like the island of Owyhee (say it out loud) as the south-easternmost of the Sandwich Islands. Apparently, it's possibly to date the medal to 1815 or so, based on the particular combination of modern/archaic names used (for example, it mus have been struck after 1776 because it mentions the United Sta. but probably not much after that because that label is stuck to the eastern seabord.)
This is listed as Rulau E9 in Rulau's Discovering America.
(Cross-posted to the US and World Coin forums because, well, wouldn't you?)
0
Comments
-Paul
The Stacks specimen sold for just over $1000 (with BP) two years ago, correctly attributed. I don't have a clue if that's the correct price, or too high or too low.
Before I got this one, I was hoping that the Stacks price was too high. Now that I have mine, I hope that the Stacks price was too low
jonathan
<< <i>That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. >>
What he said. I want one!
jonathanb, I'm with--that is impressive if CCU thinks its cool.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Thats a real nice piece for sure. I love old maps and to have a medal like this is very cool.
regards,
dealmakr