Stack's Bowers & Ponterio
August 2020 Auction 5-6 Aug 2020
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ITALY. Gold Airship Italia Medal, 1928. Vittorio Emanuele III. PCGS SPECIMEN-67 Gold Shield.
14.87 gms. Medal engraved by Moretti. Struck to commemorate the voyage of Airship Italia to the North Pole. Obverse: Italia flies over the city of Milan; Reverse: Two individuals building a tent in the North Pole; legend around and in exergue. A stunningly well preserved medal exhibiting fresh clean matte finished surfaces with dark pigment in the crevasses of the incuse letters on the obverse and reverse. A seldom encountered subject matter in stellar condition and fully original looking.
14.87 gms. Medal engraved by Moretti. Struck to commemorate the voyage of Airship Italia to the North Pole. Obverse: Italia flies over the city of Milan; Reverse: Two individuals building a tent in the North Pole; legend around and in exergue. A stunningly well preserved medal exhibiting fresh clean matte finished surfaces with dark pigment in the crevasses of the incuse letters on the obverse and reverse. A seldom encountered subject matter in stellar condition and fully original looking.
Belonging to the Italian Air Force, the Italia was a semi-rigid airship used by General Umberto Nobile on a voyage to the North Pole. It crashed on 25 May 1928 with a total of 17 dead crew and rescuers. Years later in 1969 the story of this horrible disaster would be dramatized in a joint Italian/Soviet "The Red Tent" (La Tenda Rossa [Italian]) starring Sean Connery.
Estimate: $2000.00- $2500.00