British and World Coins, Historical Medals, Tokens, Banknotes and Numismatic Books

United States of America, United States of America, The Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar Flight, 1926, a bronze medal by Tiffany & Co for the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, the airship Norge among clouds crossing a global representation of the North Pole, First Crossing of the Polar Sea under Leadership of Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth reverse map of the Arctic showing the route, legend around, 76mm. About extremely fine, in original leather case of issue by Tiffany & Co, New York, extremely rare.

This particular medal was presented by the ashps to Bernon Sheldon Prentice, Chairman of the American Advisory Committee of the Trans Polar Trip, Park Avenue, New York, on 13th April 1927. Sold together with the original presentation letter from George F Kunz, President of the ashps, which says “It was the intention of our organization to award a gold medal to each of the great discoverers but they waived that right preferring that bronze medals should be given to those who aided and advised them, and you have surely done both of those things admirably.”

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), the Norwegian explorer who was the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911, masterminded the flight of the Norge across the Polar wastes with fellow explorer and ballonist Umberto Nobile (1885-1928). Their May 1926 journey, from Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, via the North Pole, to Point Barrow, Alaska, and then on to Teller on the Bering Sea, took 72 hours, during which they flew 3,393 miles. This was the first air crossing of the Polar icecap ever attempted.

Tragically, Amundsen was to meet his death two years later while searching in vain for Nobile, whose dirigible had crashed in the Arctic.