I am trying to locate a silver Franklin Institute medal awarded Charles H White, a Philadelphia cabinetmaker (active 1818-1876) in 1825. I have been doing research on him since 1973 when I first discovered his work. He was one of Philadelphia’s most prominent cabinetmakers of the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century.

For decades I have been attempting to locate any of the four silver Franklin Institute medals he won in 1825, 1826, 1842 and 1843 through genealogical and much other research. I recently found this reference to one of his medals. .

I have been in contact with Joe Levine who noted records going back that far had been discarded, so finding the buyer of this medal through him could not be accomplished. Len Augsburger at the Newman Numismatic Portal suggested I contact you and hopefully, through your publication, the vast readership and contacts of The E-Sylum.

I would be very grateful if you would put a query in The E-Sylum with the hope that one of your readers might have this medal or know of its location, or, information on any illustrations of the medal in PCAC no 45 (12/3/1988, lot 282, or, photographs of the reverse of this medal with the inscription published elsewhere.

My research is coming to a close and I plan to publish in the next year. I would be very grateful if you could help me in this endeavor. I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Since I wrote to you, I discovered that the 1842 silver Franklin Institute medal awarded to CH & JF White was sold in a May 2019 sale. I am attempting to locate the buyer, who might be a dealer, via the auction house - that claimed to have contacted him/her on my behalf - but have had no response.

Isn’t it strange, after looking for any of these medals for more than 50 years, that I find an old reference to the 1825 medal and the 1842 medal is sold at auction, both within a months’ time… The photo (below) is the reverse of the 1842 medal. Whether it had the original presentation box or if there was any family provenance was not noted. Whether I will ever see it in the flesh or get a chance to buy it from the purchaser will be very interesting (and I hope not disappointing).