The Huntingtons
by Carl Paul Jennewein
The
Brookgreen Gardens medals are somewhat of an afterthought of a wonderful
organization that deals primarily with sculpture and nature, particularly sculpture
in
nature. Brookgreen Gardens is a magical place that combines nature and sculpture to create
a unique environment.
Its roots go back to 1931 when Archer Milton Huntington,
a well-known philanthropist and benefactor of the American Numismatic Society, and
his famous sculptor-medallist wife, Anna Hyatt Huntington, acquired
four tracts of adjacent lands. They started commissioning and installing sculpture and opened the grounds to
the public in 1937.
With Anna Hyatt Huntington's background as a medalist it is somewhat surprising that the fledgling
organization did not immediately issue medals. Eight more years would pass before Gertrude Lathrop
created a medal for Brookgreen Gardens in 1945. An almost thirty year hiatus followed before the next medal was issued in
1973. The sculptor-president of the Gardens, Carl Paul Jennewein, took it upon himself to create a similar medal
Gazelle
by Marshall Maynard Fredericks
that bore the conjoined portraits of the Huntingtons, and the Fighting Stallions. They are somewhat of a symbol
for the Gardens because Anna Hyatt Huntington herself created the massive bronze located at the Gardens entrance.
It took the intersection of Brookgreen Gardens and the Society of Medalists in the person of
Joseph Veitch Noble to create a regular medal program. He was both the president of Brookgreen Gardens and the
executive director of the Society of Medalists and he saw an untapped potential at Brookgreen Gardens. Under his
tenure, membership was increased to $250 a year but with the higher fee came a member medal which referenced the
unique institution. This annual medal program is still going strong today and ended up surviving its older and better
known cousin, the Society of Medalists.
Collecting Brookgreen Gardens Medals
For the collector, the Brookgreen Gardens medal series is very attractive for many reasons:
- The medals are highly appealing and very decorative. Many are represented in museum and college collections.
- The medals typically trade in the $150 to $600 price range.
- There is a reasonable amount of trading at almost all times, so it won't take you forever to build or dispose of your collection by dealer or auction.
- The medals have held their value well over time and you can buy newly issued ones by becoming a member of Brookgreen Gardens.
But most of all, the medals are really enjoyable and that's of course the only reason you should collect them.
If you hold them for a long time, they probably won't be a bad investment either.
Next Steps
- Take a look at all the medals in the other tabs of this page. There are two tabs that lead to pictures:
Medals and Visual. The Medals
tab leads to a paged list (by default groups of 10) that shows both sides and provides access to documentation and
details. The Visual tab leads to a grid of obverse medal images. From there you can easily identify a
medal visually and then click through to the detail information about a specific medal. Use the Medals
tab to see the entry for a medal for which I don't yet have images; medals with missing images are not included
in the Visual tab.
- Contact me if you are interested in buying or selling medals or want to help me improve the site.
I am always interested in buying to complete or improve my
own collection. Sometimes I have duplicates that I would be willing to sell. If you cannot or will not sell medals
that I still need, at least share
your high-quality pictures so I can complete the Variants display section.
If I don't have a picture for a medal, I probably don't own the medal and I would be interested in buying it.
- Check out the links in the Resources tab.
- Support this site with a small donation if you appreciate it as a resource and
want to help me with hosting and bandwidth costs.
