E-Sylum Feature Writer and
American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith submitted this
third and final article on national hero and serial medal recipient Thomas Sampson. Thank you!
-Editor
The 1856 Sampson Medal
In 1904, workers were excavating for construction of a subway power house near Eleventh
Avenue between Fifty-Eighth and Fifty-Ninth streets in Manhattan. A workman dug up a large
silver medal, took it home to clean it and returned to turn it over to the son of former police
Captain John Delaney.
Delaney recognized the name on the medal as Thomas Sampson. He knew that Charles H.
Phillips, a records keeper at the police headquarters, was the brother of James C. Phillips, who
was married to Cornelia Sampson, daughter of Thomas. The medal was sent to Cornelia, residing
at Mount Vernon, New York.
The medal was presented to Sampson in 1856 by the Life Savings Benevolent Association of
New York (LSBANY). The medal is 51.1 mm diameter and should contain about 41 grams of
.999 silver. It was struck by Tiffany & Co., with dies attributed to George Hampton Lovett.
The obverse shows a ship foundering in the surf. On the shore is a refuge station while workers
use a Lyle gun to fire a lifeline to the ship. Around the inner border near the top is the legend
"LIFE SAVING BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK." In the exergue is "INC 29th
of MARCH / 1849."
The reverse has an oak wreath and legend: "VITA FELICIBUS AUSIS SERVATA." This
translates from the Latin as, "Human Life Saved by Successful Daring Deeds." The central field
is engraved:
Presented Aug. 18, 1856, to
Police Officer Thos. Sampson
for his humanity and courage
who, at the imminent
peril of his own life, has
saved several persons from
drowning in the New York Harbor.
The presentation was mentioned in the New York Tribune of August 23, 1856. The article
reported, "During the last few years Mr. Thomas Sampson, an officer attached to the Chief's
bureau but appointed from the Eighteenth Ward, has rescued no less than six persons who has, by
their own imprudence or by accident, fallen into the docks. In some of these instances this officer
has jeopardized his life to save those of his fellows."
The Association transmitted the medal by letter to the chief of police to be presented to
Sampson.
In 1855, New York Mayor Fernando Wood presented Sampson with a silver medal for saving
four lives but no water rescues were described. I have been unable to find contemporary
descriptions of any of the water rescues cited in awards.
The 1888 lifesaving medal awarded by Congress was reported as his sixteenth medal. Obituaries
written in 1901 mention the sixteen medals. There is no mention of any lost medal.
In 1886, Congress passed an Act to grant a gold medal to Thomas Sampson. This required
verification of the lifesaving events honored. Sampson was not able to provide eyewitnesses to
the events thirty some years earlier.
In 1888, Congress passed a second Act. It was reported that Sampson used two medals as
verification. These had been presented by the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York
for his lifesaving acts in 1854 and 1856. While Thompson is credited with saving at least thirteen
lives, only the five noted on the LSBANY medals were mentioned on the Congressional Gold
Medal.
This verifies that the two LSBANY medals were in the possession of Sampson in 1888. Other
reports say he kept the medals in a safe at the Sub Treasury or at a safe at the house of a friend.
How did the one medal get to the excavation site in 1904 and what happened to all the rest of the
Thompson medals? As William Shatner would say, "the answers remain, unexplained." (A TV
show catchphrase)
A Philosophical Question
For some people a gold medal is like a cash award. Heirs who receive gold medals may choose
to have them melted to receive the value in cash. There is a high probability that the Sampson
medals have been melted.
I have not found any past record of sale of the Sampson medals. If they came up for auction
today, these recent articles might provide added value.
If the Sampson medals were unique and lost or destroyed, is there any value to these recent
articles? Will anyone care about the story for a medal that does not exist?
William Thomas Sampson Medals
In 1901, the U. S. Navy instituted an award for service in the West Indies during the Spanish
American War. The Sampson medal is named for Admiral William Thomas Thompson and is
unrelated to New York Captain Thomas Sampson.
Numismatic research is by nature uncertain - if you already knew the answer you wouldn't be looking for one. In this case, Pete was unable to locate any reference to the current existence of Sampson's medals, but the journey is almost always worthwhile. E-Sylum readers and I all learned a lot about Honest Tom Sampson, the Life Savings Benevolent Association of New York and its medals, as well as the lifesaving medals issued by the U.S. Congress.
We can never rule out whether one or more of Sampson's medals will turn up someday. And if that happens some future cataloguer will likely turn to Pete's articles for information. For an example of such a lost-lost medal discovery, look no further than the one-of-a-kind Daniel Morgan gold Comitia Americana medal that surfaced in 2022 after having been generations in hiding.
What are some other examples of numismatic items referenced in the literature that were unknown until an example suddenly showed up?
-Editor
To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
GOLD MORGAN COMITIA AMERICANA SURFACES
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n09a34.html)
HONEST TOM SAMPSON (1827-1901)
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n10a14.html)
THE 1888 SAMPSON LIFE SAVING MEDAL
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n11a14.html)
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
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