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The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 23, June 5, 2016, Article 23

HALL OF FAME FOR GREAT AMERICANS MEDALS

On June 1, 2016 Greg Ruby published an article in his blog The Fourth Garrideb - Numismatics of Sherlock Holmes inspired by a recent visit to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans at New York University by the cast of the CBS show Elementary. Here's an excerpt focusing on a numismatic aspect; be sure to read the complete article online. -Editor

Hall of Fame For Great Americans

From the Bronx Community College’s webpage for the Hall of Fame:

The principal feature of the Hall of Fame is its 630-foot open-air Colonnade, which houses the bronze portrait busts of the honorees. Designed by the celebrated architect Stanford White and financed by a gift from Mrs. Finley J. Shepard (Helen Gould) to New York University, the Hall of Fame was formally dedicated on May 30, 1901.

The Colonnade was designed with niches to accommodate 102 sculptured works and currently houses the busts and commemorative plaques of 98 of the 102 honorees elected since 1900.

The 98 bronze busts that line the Colonnade are original works by distinguished American sculptors. The bronze tablets recessed in the wall beneath the busts carry inscriptions of significant statements made by the men and women honored. Among the master sculptors represented here are Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial; James Earl Fraser, whose work includes the figures of “Justice” and “Law” for the U.S. Supreme Court, and Frederick MacMonnies, whose reliefs grace Fifth Avenue’s Washington Arch.

The numismatic connection here is not only the link to coin designers such as James Earl Fraser, but the series of medals produced to honor each inductee to the Hall. Greg's article illustrated several; here's a sampling. Do any of our readers have a complete set? -Editor

Actor Edwin Booth

HOFGA-Booth

William Cullen Bryant

William-Cullen-Bryant-HOFOGA-Medal

Oliver Wendell Holmes

HOFGA-Holmes_JR-768x384

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)

HOFGA-Twain-768x384

To read the complete article, see:
 Elementary’s Holmes and Watson at the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (http://fourthgarrideb.com/2016/06/elementarys-holmes-and-watson-at-the-hall-of-fame-for-great-americans/)

For more information on the series, see this 2012 article from Dick Johnson's MedalBlog:
Hall of Fame Series — The Most Successful Medal Program (https://medalblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/hall-of-fame-series-the-most-successful-medal-program/)



Wayne Homren, Editor

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To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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