NEWMAN PORTAL: THANKSGIVING IN NUMISMATICS

A search on "Thanksgiving" in the Newman Portal readily identifies a number of numismatic objects associated with the word Thanksgiving. In the May 2009 edition of The MCA Advisory, Anne Bentley published a contemporary silver medal and asked readers for an attribution. The obverse inscription reads "THE PILGRIMS PRAISE GOD AT FIRST THANKSGIVING." The question appears to not have been answered in a subsequent issue - perhaps an E-Sylum reader can help?

Another Thanksgiving medal is mentioned in a couple sources - Jospeh S. Wyon's Thanksgiving for Prince of Wales' Recovery, 1872, is listed both in Forrer's Biographical Dictionary and in the American Journal of Numismatics (April 1889). This medal commemorates the Prince of Wales' (later Edward VII) recovery from typhoid fever. The Newman Portal further identifies auction appearances (S.H. & H. Chapman, 7/12/1895, and Presidential Coin & Antique, 6/24/1989). An image is more elusive - the engraving here is from Wikipedia.

From the TNA News, the journal of the Texas Numismatic Association, we find that the TNA issued a medal in 1978 depicting Thanks-Giving Square in Dallas, a public space dedicated in 1976. Elsewhere the rare DeHaven sale catalog (Edward Cogan, 1861) describes lot 871, a Thanksgiving medal with obverse "Faith Standing" and an angel raising a kneeling female on the reverse. Finally, Elder's sale of 6/24/1912 features a "Thanksgiving medal for harvest after Famine." Of course the most well-known piece of this genre is the Pilgrim Tercentenary commemorative half dollar (1920), which makes no reference to Thanksgiving at all!

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