ARCTIC DISCOVERIES MEDAL, 1818-55

octagonal silver medal, bust of Queen Victoria left, rev. sledging party with ship beyond, with ‘Pole Star’ suspension as issued (In Memoriam, Sir W.E. Parry, Arctic Expeditions, 1818-1823), engraved in plain capitals, a curious and interesting piece

1,486 of these medals were awarded for the various Arctic voyages of exploration from 1818 to 1855, including many to men involved in the ongoing search for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845-48. Issued unnamed, these medals were sometimes named by their recipients although the inscription on the medal offered here is enigmatic, to say the least. A named medal to Sir William Parry, one of the earliest and most well-known Arctic explorers, is known to exist and the medal in this catalogue may have been engraved as a posthumous tribute to Parry who died in 1855, the year it was issued.