USA . Congressional Somers 1846 Medal

[numis]

How many of these are known to survive ? And to which recipients ( of all the involved nationalities ) ?

[numis]

No responses to date 

[dmiller8]

I'll try to answer as best as I can. USS Somers was a US naval vessel that foundered off the coast of Vera Cruz, Mexico during the Mexican American war (https://wiki2.org/en/USS_Somers_(1842) Thirty-six sailors were lost, but survivors were picked up by several foreign vessels, including HMS Endymion (https://wiki2.org/en/HMS_Endymion_(1797) The captain of the Endymion at the time was George Lambert https://wiki2.org/en/George_Lambert_(Royal_Navy_officer) He would have received the gold Congressional Somers Medal for his actions that night (https://history.house.gov/Institution/Gold-Medal/Gold-Medal-Recipients/).

 Silver ones were intended for junior officers and seamen. The Numismatist journal of April 2001 stated that the medals weren't finished until 1851, and that the original pressings were mis-struck with the wrong legend (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/527804?page=36). Ten gold and 100 silver medals were finally struck and given out. Silver and bronze copies were produced for public sale and show up in auctions occasionally (https://www.spink.com/lot/340000453). The gold medals should be recorded in the Congressional Record, but the entry is vague, stating that these medals were presented to rescuers of the USS Somers survivors (https://history.house.gov/Institution/Gold-Medal/Gold-Medal-Recipients/). I don't believe a by-name list of recipients of these medals exists.

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[numis]

Thank you to dmiller8 for the detailed information that you have posted about the Somers medal

 

I am still interested in knowing how many are known to survive .

The medals were named ( at least to the British recipients ) 

 

[Chris Boonzaier]

On 07/08/2021 at 11:55, numis said:

Thank you to dmiller8 for the detailed information that you have posted about the Somers medal

 

I am still interested in knowing how many are known to survive .

The medals were named ( at least to the British recipients ) 

 

I fail to see how anyone can guesstimate that?

Is there a central list of surviving medals?

Years ago an author wrote "there are 12 known surviving examples of the Germanic proficiency Rune"... which begged the question.. "known to who?"

Since then we have seen there are many more than that...

And if John says "i know of six" and Peter says "I know of eight" does that men there are 14, or are 5 known to john known to peter as well?

[numis]

I was not requesting anyone's guestimate

I was requesting firm evidence of known to survive medals

Such can be found in published catalogues of collections and also dealers' lists and auction sale catalogues