Superb, minty, cased Dewey Medal to USS Olympia Sailor, Edmund G. Barry, currently on eBay 6/30/24.

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As nice as I've seen, and a rare opportunity to own an original, cased,  USS Olympia Dewey Medal.    Only about 450 were originally struck by Tiffany and Co.  by Act of Congress in 1898, distributed beginning in 1899 and rim impressed to the sailors and marines of USS Olympia.   Certainly only a fraction of that number existing today.    And a chance to repatriate this historic medal to the US from Dublin, Ireland.  

 

Give Ireland back to the Irish, but give the Dewey national treasures back to the USA collectors.        God Save the Queen. 

 

  https://www.ebay.com/itm/387127812547

 

 

[Blacksmith]

Great Caesar's ghost, look at the toning on that medal (swoon).

 

Now, prepare to bear the scorn of the folks that think eBay is a secret...

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Sailors of USS Olympia marching in the Dewey Parade at New York City,  Sept. 30, 1899,  after having been distributed their Dewey Medals, which they can be seen wearing.

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Blacksmith said:

Great Caesar's ghost, look at the toning on that medal (swoon).

 

Now, prepare to bear the scorn of the folks that think eBay is a secret...

 

😄  I know right?   Hey, when the listing title is  "1898 ORIGINAL American Admiral Dewey Battle of Manila Medal case & ribbon A. UNC",  it ain't no secret, man!

It's the choicest Dewey I've seen, and I've seen a few.  

[usmedalman]

Thanks for posting, that is one gorgeous medal. I'm sure the hammer price is going to be well above the current bid.

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It sure is, the toning after 125 years in its suede case with the unique temperature, humidity, etc, it experienced,  is stunning.  The seller confirmed it came out of an estate sale in Dublin and that, "There is certainly great interest in this medal".    It should have a lot of  bidding movement in the last minute,  I'm guessing the final hammer at least $2570.   Could well be more, since I believe this is not just the first Dewey Medal on eBay this year, but certainly the first Olympia medal.   I don't recall when the last cased medal came up on eBay, but I think it's been quite a while.   Possibly the winner hasn't  bid yet and is keeping his powder dry for the final seconds, as we often see. 

[Jim T]

   Hmmm...I wonder why eBay didn't cancel this sale?

 

 

Can you spell P-r-o-f-i-t ?

.......

 

Sincere congratulations to the winner....it's a beautiful medal (and case).

 

 

 

[aerialbridge]

What reason was there to cancel the auction before it ran its course?    Respectfully, why the pejorative aspersions of "profit".   Ebay is great for both sellers and buyers.   Sellers pay what,  around a 13% fee total to eBay and PayPal,  much less than other online auctions run by auction companies.  And buyers don't get stuck with a lousy 25% "premium" or any other vig.    Just the sales tax of whatever state they live in.  I'm glad to see the strong finish, it speaks well for US medal collecting.   There is a robust market for historic medals such as this.   Congratulations to the auction winner for acquiring a priceless piece of American history, fair and square in free market capitalism at its best.  There were at least 5 bidders who were willing to pay over $2500 for this excellent example of a Dewey Medal, and probably more in the frenzied final seconds of bidding, whose bids don't show because they were less than the rocketing price.

 

[Jim T]

   But don't dare try to sell that Bronze Star or Air Medal....( not enough p-r-o-f-i-t ).

 

I was rooting for the seller ( and a buyer who really desires a great example ). 

 

In fact:   guess who asked the seller to show the details of the pin, hinge and catch so that those interested got the whole picture?  

 

=  Jim T

 

 

    

 

[aerialbridge]

I don't understand your point about the Bronze Star or Air Medal,  other than as a function of supply and demand with lots of variables, like are the historic, are they officially engraved, etc,  and other factors, like the auction being properly titled as this one was to get maximum eyeballs and clicks.     I'm happy for the seller here, who sold something they had of substantial value to a buyer, with good, old, healthy competition in an arm's length transaction where everyone had an equal chance to win it.   No backdoor shenanigans or ending the auction early, although that was most probably tried here.   Fortunately the seller was honest and I'll bet the final hammer price was higher than any backdoor offer to end the auction early, so the seller was rewarded for being honest and seeing the auction to the end.   May the highest bidder win and happy for him too. He put his money where his desire to own this great medal was and he came out on top.

 

Flag Secretary  ENS Harry Handly Caldwell,  USS Olympia,  and MM1c William Eletson, USS Olympia, wearing their Congressional Dewey Medals.  Caldwell was America's first submarine captain when he assumed command of USS Holland (SS-1) on October 12, 1900.  After his retirement from the Navy, he became a movie producer in the early 1920s and with his wife, Katherine Hilliker,  collaborated to write screenplays and movie scenarios for leading companies like Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists, and Fox. They also worked as production editors on many well-known silent and talking pictures, including Ben Hur (1925) and 7th Heaven (1927).

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]

The point he was making is that Ebay has been cancelling Air Medal and Bronze Star auctions. Their motivation is not financial.  In their misguided ferver , they see those as "gallantry" awards and they are trying to save the world from stolen valor.  I have seen Ebay cancel Purple Heart auctions that has risen into the thousands when they cancelled them. 

 

Campaign medals are currently not being cancelled by Ebay.  I think some day , they will just cancel all US medals.   They want to be Amazon. They don't care about how much money medals bring in, 

 

Kurt

[aerialbridge]

Okay, thanks for explaining.  I was unaware of that situation since Air Medals and Bronze Stars are generally outside my interest area.   That's a shame that eBay's crusading,  misguided fervor, doubtless fueled by the clod-hopping, insufferable, officious intermeddlers, who routinely "report"  Purple Heart, Silver Star,  Navy Cross and other valor medals  to have those auctions cancelled,  have spread their contagion to Bronze Stars and Air Medals.   Really stupid and let's hope eBay doesn't eventually ban all auctions of US Medals.   Hard to believe there are no eBay shareholders that speak up at their meetings to denounce this stupidity, since it's lost revenue.