Medal (Award or premium)

Description

This medallion was awarded as a prize or premium with a diploma for a winning entrant in the international display of manufactured goods at the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia. The original design, created by Henry Mitchell, was delivered to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia on June 21, 1876, but he did not complete engraving his four-inch dies until October that year; his three-inch dies were completed with a pantograph by March 1877, after the fair had closed. Approximately 12,000 medals were produced, distributed as emblems of American industry and accomplishment into the hands of national and international manufacturers. The obverse depicts the seated profile view of Columbia personifying America, holding a Federal eagle shield and extending a laurel crown in her right hand above symbols of industry and craft. A four-story building with smoking chimneys is in the background. The central reserve is encircled by an outer Palladian egg-and-dart border and an inner bead enclosing 38 stars punctuated by four oval roundels personifying the four continents, with America at the top, then clockwise Africa, Asia, and Europe. The reverse has a low relief inscription in the center field "AWARDED BY / UNITED STATES / CENTENNIAL / COMMISSION" encircled by a crossed laurel boughs and the outer inscription "INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, PHILADELPHIA, MDCCCLXXVI" all within an egg-and-dart border. The outer edge is plain.