PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
MORE ON MEDALS IN ADVERTISINGRegarding medals used in product packaging and advertising, Paul Horner writes: I found a little more info these medals after I sent it to you: The name of the awardee on the medal on the spaghetti box is not "Columbia Macaroni Company" but looks
like Worchester Cereal Company (?). I believe each medal was made with the individual winners name on it. 1st place medals may have been gilt. I'm sure other readers are much
better informed on these medals than I. Here is an interesting site that shows most / all the Columbian Exposition medals:
Harry Waterson writes: I recently bought a small Hoover Electric Cleaner bronze medal and it came with a small 3½x2½ inch fold-out promotional piece for The Hoover Company. It was probably printed in 1932 at the time of the Hoover Silver Jubilee. When I opened up the fold-out it listed the 26 awards the Hoover Co. received from 1914 to 1931 and featured a montage of most of the medals it had garnered. I can find bits and pieces of 24 different medals. A nice piece of ephemera.  Patrick McMahon of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston submitted these notes and images. -Editor In response to Paul Horner and Ken Traub's contributions I want to confess that I gravitate towards old award medals in advertising too--on old and new products. Stuffed
away somewhere, I also have a flattened Columbia Pasta box. Mine's for large pasta shells that I used to see in Pace's market in the North End of Boston (they are in the
West End now and probably still carry it--Columbia Pasta is still around:
On Paul Horner's observation that the name on the medal doesn't match the company name on his box — perhaps the Worchester Cereal Company changed their name to Columbia after they won the medal at the Columbian expo?  Along similar lines, here's an out of service, Eatmor Cranberries crate-label boasting of a silver medal at the 1901 Pan-American Expo.  Another favorite for me is the post-1904/pre-1940(?) range of Crayola Crayon boxes with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold medal by Adolph Weinman on the box. I have long
thought it notable that with all the folklore purporting that the 1916 quarter was censored to cover Liberty's bust, this image appeared on children's crayon boxes for something
like forty years!
 But the one that probably get the biggest kick out of and that anyone can find today is the standard Bacardí Gold ?label. It sports an impressive line-up of medals (from left to right):
2) The 1881 Matanzas (Cuba), Exposition medal of award which I know little about but have seen as attributed to the engraver Pablo Vidal and issued by Feu Hermanos (the obverse
is shown). Here's a link to one in a recent Heritage sale:
  
Medals 3 and 4 3) The 1895 Bordeaux, Societé Philomathique XIIIth Exposition medal of award by Adolphe Rivet and struck at the Paris Mint but issued by "Le Medaillier" M.G. LAGARDE in Paris--the one I have came with the original paper note identifying the firm and offering prices for the different metals, inscriptions, reproductions, etc... [ebay images attached] 4) The 1900 Paris, Universal Exposition medal of award by Jules Chaplain (obverse shown) weblink:
 
Medals 5 and 6 5) The 1901 Buffalo, Pan-American Exposition medal of award by Hermon MacNeil (reverse shown) Here's a link to the MFA's example:
6) The 1893 Chicago, Columbian Exposition medal by Saint Gaudens and Charles Barber (Saint Gaudens' obverse shown) Here's a link to the MFA's example:
7) The 1876 Philadelphia International (U.S. Centennial) Exposition commemorative/medal of award by Henry Mitchell (obverse shown). weblink:
This Bacardí 8 is not to be confused with a bottle of Bacardí 8... or Pieces of 8... I'm trying to collect the "Full Bacardí" and I'm up to 5 of the 8. I'm missing the Buffalo Pan-Am (the most expensive of these in any metal), the Matanzas (the hardest to find in really good condition), and the Philadelphia (the cheapest and most common in several forms... so I'm patient). For this unsolicited shout-out to Bacardí, let's invite them to make a charitable contribution to the NBS or the Newman Numismatic Portal where it will be archived and accessible to rum and medal fans whenever they search the web! (not to mention Columbia Pasta and Crayola) Thanks, everyone - very nice. -Editor To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
 Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
|
.jpg){kind=link}