Historical and Art Medals, Numismatic Books

United States of America, Elisha Kane, 1859, a bronze medal by G.H. Lovett, bust right, plaque below containing bow view of a ship embedded in the ice below cliffs, two US flags at sides, rev. masonic pavement with three pillars and various emblems encircled by palm branches, 51mm (BDM VII, 563; cf. DNW 30, 865). Extremely fine, rare (£80-100)

Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57), polar explorer from Philadelphia, was the senior medical officer of the unsuccessful Arctic expedition searching for Sir John Franklin in 1850-1. He headed a second expedition from New York in 1853, charting the coasts of Smith Sound and discovering the Kennedy Channel, but was forced to abandon his icebound brig in May 1855 and he and his crew endured an 83-day march to reach Upernavik, Greenland, from where he was repatriated to New York