Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 12 - Argentum 4 Nov 2017
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Medals by Subject, Exploration, USA /UK, The Robert Edwin Peary, A striking in Bronze of the medal awarded in gold by the Royal Geographical Society, 1910, by Kathleen Scott (1878-1947), unsigned, bust right, ROBERT EDWIN PEARY 1910, rev an eagle hovers over the north polar regions, PRESENTED BY THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY – FOR ARCTIC EXPLORATION 1886-1909, 68mm (Attwood, P; Kathleen Scott: The Sculptor as a Medallist, pl 20, BNJ 60, 1990), the obverse darkly patinated, good very fine and extremely rare
Kathleen Scott was the widow of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and had sculpted his statue in Waterloo Place, London. The striking of the medals was organised by the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company, one in gold for Peary, one in silver for his companion, Captain Bartlett, presented on 4 May 1910, and an unrecorded number in bronze.
Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) claimed to have been the first person to reach the geographic North Pole on 6 April 1909, though it is now believed he was, in fact, some 60 miles short of his target. However, Peary's achievement was certified by the National Geographic Society, a major sponsor of his expeditions, and the Society awarded him the gold medal "not solely for the last journey of his in which he reached the Pole, but also for all the long years of toil and trouble which he has devoted to polar exploration" (John Edward Weems, Peary, 1967). At the award ceremony, his lantern slide projector overheated shattering the glass plates, then the medal slipped out of his hands and disappeared between the floorboards of the stage, all in front of an audience of 10,000 (Robert M. Bryce, Cook & Peary, 1997).
(250-350 GBP)
Kathleen Scott was the widow of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and had sculpted his statue in Waterloo Place, London. The striking of the medals was organised by the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company, one in gold for Peary, one in silver for his companion, Captain Bartlett, presented on 4 May 1910, and an unrecorded number in bronze.
Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) claimed to have been the first person to reach the geographic North Pole on 6 April 1909, though it is now believed he was, in fact, some 60 miles short of his target. However, Peary's achievement was certified by the National Geographic Society, a major sponsor of his expeditions, and the Society awarded him the gold medal "not solely for the last journey of his in which he reached the Pole, but also for all the long years of toil and trouble which he has devoted to polar exploration" (John Edward Weems, Peary, 1967). At the award ceremony, his lantern slide projector overheated shattering the glass plates, then the medal slipped out of his hands and disappeared between the floorboards of the stage, all in front of an audience of 10,000 (Robert M. Bryce, Cook & Peary, 1997).
(250-350 GBP)