Medal (Peace Medal)

Description

This silver medal commemorates the September 1787 merchant venture from Boston to the northern Pacific Ocean conducted by Captain John Kendrick of the Columbia Redivia and Captain Robert Gray of the Lady Washington and their crews. The Boston and Salem investors named on the reverse are Joseph Barrell, Samuel Brown, Charles Bulfinch, John Derby, Crowel Hatch, and John Marsden Pintard. In 1790, when the Columbia Redivia returned, under the command of Captain Gray, the voyage that began in Boston had reached China and continued westward to circumnavigate the globe. This is one of five known silver medals to survive. It is likely they were produced for presentation to investors rather than the more numerous pewter medals struck for distribution to Indigenous leaders during the voyage. The designer and maker of the medals remains elusive, but the Massachusetts Mint diesinker and engraver, Joseph Callender likely had a role in production overseen by investor Joseph Barrell.