HISTORY OF THE ROBBINS COMPANY

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V26 2023 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 26, Number 3, January 15, 2023, Article 14

Here's some additional information about the Robbins Company from Dick Johnson's Medallic Art Collector website. -Editor

Charles May Robbins (1856-1929) founded the Chas M. Robbins Company in 1892 and ran it for the next 18 years. Having become wealthy, he retired from it in 1910. In 1912 the company renamed itself to Robbins Company.

In 2007 the Robbins Company merged with the Tharpe Company to form TharpeRobbins, which renamed itself to Engage2Excel in 2015.

The Robbins Company struck many beautiful medals in the first half of the 20th century but I have very little information about it. I would be deeply grateful to anyone who can help me find out more about it. One artist who had many of his medals struck at Robbins was Julio Kilényi. Check out his medals to see more examples of Robbins' work.

Dick knew everything there was to know about medals it seemed, and the Robbins Company dies and associated records should reveal a great deal (see Heath White's report in the previous article in this issue). Here are a couple examples of Robbins company medals from Dick's site. -Editor

NBC's Tenth Anniversary 1936
by Richard A. Loederer, E.P.H. James, Julio Kilényi

The obverse bears the old NBC logo crisscrossed in the center; double lightning bolts extending from all corners of the cross. On left and right of lightning bolts above, 19 / 26; on left and right of lightning bolts below, 19 / 36.

The reverse bears text only. Around, NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY * A RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA SERVICE * ; in center field, TENTH ANNIVERSARY / TO THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED WITH US / IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF BROADCASTING.

The medal commemorates the tenth anniversary of the National Broadcasting Company which was founded in 1926. It was distributed to its employees in 1936.

1939 New York World's Fair Medal obverse

The obverse bears view of iconic Trylon and Perisphere; at upper right, a full length figure of George Washington emerges from cloud banks. At bottom, NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR / 1939; at right, ©

The reverse bears three panels; top panel shows Trylon and Perisphere over radiant sun; above, THE WORLD OF TOMORROW; the middle panel shows view of Manhattan skyline as seen from the World's Fair grounds with legend TODAY; bottom panel shows view of New Amsterdam with legend YESTERDAY; signed at top right corner of bottom panel, KILENYI

This was the official medal of the New York World's Fair of 1939-40. The 190m-tall spire-shaped Trylon contained the (at the time) longest escalator and the 54m-diameter Perisphere housed a diorama called "Democracity" which depicted a utopian city-of-the-future. A moving sidewalk transported spectators past the exhibits.

A much rarer version of the medal exists in which the year is 1940 rather than 1939.

The medal measures 63.5mm in diameter and was struck by the Robbins Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts.

To read the complete article, see:
The Robbins Company (https://medallicartcollector.com/robbins-co.shtml)