Voyage of HMS Challenger, 1895, a cast bronze award medal, unsigned [by B. Rhind after W.S. Black], medieval knight, gauntlet at left, upright trident at right, rev. Neptune at left of framed bust of Athena, edge named (E.A. Smith), 75mm (BHM 3487; E 1797). Extremely fine; in contemporary case £80-£100

The expeditions of HMS Challenger, in 1872-76 and 1886-95, resulted in fundamental discoveries about the world’s oceans and ocean floors that provided the basis for modern oceanography