Award Medals

The uniface medallion's obverse shows nude, winged female figure with hammer and chisel.

This medal is still awarded during the National Sculpture Society's annual exhibition.  It is awarded in Gold, Silver and Bronze, corresponding with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners. The Society's March 1, 1966 meeting minutes state that

"Charlotte Dunwiddie [Chair of the Exhibition Committee] asked to establish three medals: one gold, one silver and one bronze, as awards for the annual exhibition. After some discussion, a Motion was made, Seconded, and Carried, approving it.  The awards to be given to sculpture in the rounds, as well as to reliefs which do not fall under the other prizes for medals or small bas-reliefs.” 

In 1978, Bruno Mankowski won the Gold Medal for his 32" high bronze “Seated Figure.”

The medal bears the NSS' old logo (it was changed in 2015).  The logo is based on the sculpture ‘Into the Unknown’ by Hermon Atkins MacNeil which can be admired in the sculpture park at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. While MacNeil cannot possibly have sculpted the medal, his sculpture is certainly the inspiration for the design.  I do not know whether he converted it to a medallic design himself or whether another sculptor did that after his death.

The medallion measures 98.2mm in diameter. No mintage is reported. Many thanks to Elizabeth Helms from the NSS for her assistance in documenting this beautiful medallion.

The plaquette bears a winged female figure standing on globe, carrying book in one hand and scroll in outstretched other; flanking her are two pedestals carrying oil lamps of learning and BHS monogram in wreath. In exergue, THE CHARLES E. FRENCH / MEDAL

This plaquette is somewhat enigmatic. It is clearly well executed but not signed. Storer reports two medals (#824 and #1145) that could match, and the one awarded to the three highest ranking seniors in the five graduating classes of Braintree High School matches best with the monogram in the pedestals.

The plaquette measures 99mm x 64.5mm and was struck in sterling silver. No mintage is reported.

The medal's obverse bears nude female figure in supplicant pose, holding up medallic object before disc and stars. Around disc, FOR · EXCELLENCE · IN · THE - ART · OF - NUMISMATIC · EXHIBITING; at bottom, · HOWLAND WOOD · / · MEMORIAL · / · AWARD ·

The medal's reverse bears central disc behind ANA seal with oak and laurel underneath. Above, · AWARDED TO ·

As you can tell, I know very little about this medal and would appreciate more information about it,

The medal's obverse bears a galleon under full sail, facing half right. Around, YACHT · RACING · ASSOCIATION · OF · LONG · ISLAND · SOVND ☩

The reverse bears a wreath surrounding center field left empty for inscription.

The edge is marked BRONZE.

The Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound traces its roots back to a 1906 meeting of nine or ten avid sailors, including George Granberry, Harry Jackson, Dr. A.E. Black and J.W. Alker.  They had gathered in the Hotel Astor's yachting room and came up with the idea of the Handicap Yacht Racing Class of Long Island Sound.  From the humble beginnings of six boats competing on one class the association quickly grew to hundreds of boats racing in multiple divisions and classes.

While I could not track down a date for the first medal award I am fairly confident that medals were awarded early on in the association's racing history and have dated the medal in the 1900's.  A much more abstract (and much less expensive) version of the medal is still awarded today.

The circular medal measures 77mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by Tiffany & Co. of New York.

The medal's obverse bears nude male figure seated on a bench, r., contemplating a canvas held in one hand, brush or pen in the other. Around, PENNSYLVANIA AC-ADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS; at right, FOUNDED / 1805; signed in exergue, H. LYMAN SAYEN

The reverse bears two bound laurel branches flanking inscription, THE / JENNIE SESNAN / PRIZE / IN . MEMORIAM / SARAH / CAZENOVE / ROBERTS / FOUNDED 1902

The Jennie Sesnan Prize was founded in 1902 by Elizabeth W. Roberts, who herself had been a student of the Academy and had won its Mary Smith Prize in 1880.  It was awarded for the best landscape painting at the Academy's annual exhibition and came with a generous moentary award of $100. Ms. Roberts commemorated both her late mother, Sarah Cazenove Roberts, and a model named Jennie Sesnan with whom Ms. Roberts had worked and whom she held in high regard.

The circular medal measures 44.4mm and was struck in bronze. No mintage is reported.

The medal's obverse bears standing female in gap between two half-walls, left arm resting on wall, right arm holding painter's pallet.Around top, THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

The reverse bears oak and laurel branches before view of Art Institute building. Around top, THE NORMAN WAIT HARRIS PRIZE; across center, AWARDED TO / CLIFFORD ADDAMS / 1926; signed at bottom, V·D·Brenner Sc.

The medal was awarded for best painting by an American artist. This medal's recipient, Clifford Addams (1876-1942), was an American painter and printmaker who studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, where he won the coveted Cresson Scholarship to study abroad. He went to France where he became a student of James McNeill Whistler and married fellow artist Inez Bate. He volunteered for service in the Royal Navy during World War I and returned to the U.S.in 1920. He became a prominent etcher and practiced his art in New York City.  He died in his studio in Greenwich Village in 1942.

The medal's obverse bears a striking resemblance in design to Hermon A. MacNeil's Standing Liberty quarter of 1916. It has been speculated that this medal inspired MacNeill's design.

The circular medal measures 70mm in diameter and was struck in silver by the Medallic Art Company of New York.

References:   Baxter 138, MACo 1909-002

The medal's obverse bears portrait of Albert Ehlebert Ebert, quarter left; laurel wreath around bottom. Around top, ALBERT ETHELBERT EBERT; across, 1840 - 1906

The reverse bears wreath partially showing through gaps in inscription field. Around, AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION - ORGANIZED 1857 INCORPORATED 1888; across, EBERT PRIZE / AWARDED TO / (engraved) LESTER F. HOYT / 1926

Albert Ethelbert Ebert (1840-1906) was born in Bavaria but came to the U.S. as a one year old. His family settled in Chicago. He apprenticed with the pharmacists to learn not just the selling of ready-made remedies but also the German-style compounding. He studied Pharmacology first in Chicago, then In Philadelphia and finally in Munich, where he also studied Chemistry. He represented the American Pharmaceutical Association at conferences abroad and established the Ebert Prize in 1873. The Ebert Prize, the oldest pharmacy award in the U.S., is awarded for the best essay or communication containing original investigation of a medical substance in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Lester F. Hoyt and J. A. Handy won the award in 1926 for their study of "Diethylphtalate"

The circular medal measures 76mm in diameter. Neither maker nor mintage are reported.