Award Medals |
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Exposition officials rewarded participants and exhibit winners with elaborately engraved commemorative certificates, diplomas, or award medals. These exposition award medals were big and beautifully designed works of art, like art medals. They were executed upon a design prepared under the Departments of Fine Art. The awards in every grade were publicly announced and were certified by diplomas at the end of each exposition but were delivered within 6 months to 2 years (Chicago) after the conclusion of the expositions. They were awarded to participants on many levels including grand price, gold, silver and bronze. Award medals are often inscribed to recipients, in effect creating a unique medal. The medals were made many times of bronze metal. Bronze medals were supplied without charge by the authorities of the exhibition, but because of the costliness of the silver and gold medals, the recipients were expected in many cases to pay for them. Sometimes the silver or gold medal recipients had medals silver plated or gold plated. These award medals were a big deal. They were chosen from hundreds and many times thousands of US and foreign exhibitors. Medal award winners took pride and general satisfaction in their awards. They often printed a copy of their medal on their flyers and advertising media if they had a commercial product. Ebay often has copies of medals for Jack Daniel's, Eastside Beer and others. Also some bronze medal winners would gold plate their award medal. The
1904 St. Louis expo medals The
1893 Saint Gaudens' award medal The
award medal of the 1902 South Carolina Inter-State and Indian Expo Every exposition had their Commission of Awards who selected for each department specialists of eminence in their respective pursuits. Most of them were men of national reputation and a number were recognized as authorities both in the US and Europe. There gentlemen were invited to serve on the Board of Awards without compensation, and almost all of them accepted. Sometimes foreign exhibitors asked for and receive "international" juries to pass upon their exhibits. The awards were not made by individual judges, but by juries distributed into different sections, according to classifications based on departments of the exhibition. Typical departments were Minerals and Forestry, Agriculture, Food and Accessories, Machinery and Appliances, Horticulture, Machinery, Manufactures, Electricity, Fine Arts, Painting and Sculpture, Liberal Arts, Education, Literature. Many award medals were large 2-inch or larger medals. Gorham Company first medals were for two New York City theaters (1876), then they did medals for five American Expositions from 1895 Cotton States, 1901-1902 South Carolina Inter-State and Indian Exposition, to 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific. There is no 'Red Book of Medals'. Dealers and individuals sometimes sell a medal to a collector at a fraction of its worth. Or they sit on a medal they can't sell for decades because they overpriced it. They just don't know how to price medals correctly. An informed collector can purchased wisely building value in their medal collections. |
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