Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The New York Athletic Club, Honorary Member’s gold plaque presented to Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, U.S. Navy

New York Athletic Club, Honorary Mmeber’s gold plaque, by Robert Stoll, New York, obv. inscription in four lines ‘New York Athletic Club, June 30th 1930, Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd Honorary Member’, rev. list of Officers and Governors, 89x52mm, 14 carat, 92.53g., in its fitted presentation case, named on the lid, extremely fine £1500-1800

Ex-Sotheby, November 1988.

Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, United States Navy, was one of America's most distinguished pioneers of long distance flight and polar exploration. Having completed the first flight over the North Pole in May 1926, for which he received the Congressional Medal of Honour, Byrd determined to make the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic ocean from west to east. With two companions, Byrd took off from New York in the Fokker trimotor “America” on the 29 June, 1927 and, after 42 hours in the air, reached the coast of France and crash landed at Ver-sur-Mer in Brittany. Byrd and his two companions were given a hero's welcome in New York with an official reception by the Mayor who presented Byrd with the Medal of Valour. In recognition of his outstanding achievements Byrd received a great number of official and Society awards.