American Institute Medals
Harkness NY-80, circa 1856 - 1860
Silver, 60mm
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(image courtesy of dick Littlefield)
Bronze, 60mm
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Harkness NY-90, circa 1865 -1868
Bronze, 60mm
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Harkness NY-100, circa 1869 - 1872
Bronze, 60mm
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The medal below was in a March 2017 Stack's Bowers sale.
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The reverse is that used on Harkness NY-100, the obverse is that of
an Arctic Exploration Medal by Tiffany & Co. I have also seen a medal
using this obverse with the Elisha Kent Kane obverse by George H.
Could this be something he obtained from Tiffany and then used to
produce these mulings?
Harkness 110, circa 1856 - 1867
Silver, 35mm
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(on line image)
Bronze, 30mm
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1882 American Institute Exhibition Band Program
Harkness NY-130, circa 1865 - 1875
Silver, 51.2mm
Harkness NY-130, circa 1865 - 1875
Silver, 51.2mm
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Awarded for the Duplex Braiding attachment., 1874
Bronze, 51mm
IMAGE NEEDED
In his 1989 article on the American Institute Andrew Harkness does not
attribute this to George H. but the obverse is the same as the
Great Medal of Honor below done by him.
Semi-Centennial Medal 1881, Harkness Ny-170
White metal, 40mm
IMAGE NEEDED
Obverse is the same as Ny 175 below, reverse is a wreath with
a small opening at top and ribbon at the base, in two lines
at the top of the space within wreath AWARDED / TO.
Semi-Centennial Medal 1881, Harkness Ny-172
Copper, 30mm
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Semi-Centennial Medal 1881, Harkness Ny-175
White metal, 40mm
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book. The seated Minerva on 172 appears to be Robert Jr's design. It is
exactly the same size as that used on his storecard. Some of the details have
been changed and some details lost, probably from having been used
frequently.
Harkness NY-180, circa 1877 - 1897
The medal of Superiority, bronze, 60.3mm
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Harkness Ny-190, circa 1877 - 1897
The medal of Excellence, bronze, 51.3mm
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Great Medal of Honor, Harkness unlisted
Gold, 51mm
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"In 1872, the American Institute of New York, after a most careful and exhaustive examination, awarded the Great Medal of Honor to Joseph B. Stearns, for the invention of the Duplex Telegraph. Being the second of this class of medals issued since its foundation; the conditions upon which they were awarded being such as to exclude all inventions and improvements except those of paramount importance." From the Journal of the Franklin Institute, Volume C - July to December 1875
From the Annual Report of The American Institute For The Years 1871-72, The Argus Co. Printers 1872. "Its award of the Great Medal of Honor can only be obtained by the discoverer or inventor of a machine, product or process which hall be judged so important in it use or application as to supplant every article previously used for accomplishing the same purpose, or at least work a favorable revolution in some branch of the arts"
This version of the American Institute medal is not listed in
Andrew Harkness' "Agricultural and Mechanical Society Award
Medals of The United States, Third Edition". The obverse die was
used on NY-130. I would guess the reverse die
was created for this medal but then George H. was up to his usual
habit of combining dies for no other reason than to create rarities. It
is found muled with the two dies pictured below.
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The muling with the "Three Muses" die is found in aluminum and
probably unique. Since a cost effective way to produce aluminum
was not developed until 1889 I would assume it was struck later
than that. The muling with the Elisha Kent Kane die is listed in
the Milford Haven catalog of Naval medals as No. 617a and may also
be in aluminum. And both of the above dies were combined to
strike an aluminum medal that is listed as No. 617. I would
not be surprised to find these are both unique pieces also.
Unlisted American Institute Medal - George H.
Obverse as Great Medal of Honor, reverse as NY-190, bronze, 51.2mm
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Harkness does not list this combination of dies. This obverse die is used
on several other American Institute medals not attributed to George H.
but I think all can now be called his works.