United States (Champion Paper Co.): 1942 silver WW2 deployment medal presented to Logan Robertson Silver, 38 mm approx. Private issue. Mintage: unknown. Dr. Logan Thomson Robertson (1916-1987) was my maternal grandfather. He was the son of Reuben Buck Robertson, Sr. (1879-1972), who was the president and chairman of Champion Paper Company, which operated in Canton, North Carolina. He attended the Yale School of Medicine until World War 2 intervened, after which he became a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Among other deployments, he was stationed at MacDill Air Base in Tampa, where my mother, Lillian "Happy" Dobbs (nee Robertson) was born in 1944. Granddaddy received his M.D. degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1942 and also studied at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and at Duke University Medical School. This silver medal was presented to him by Champion when he went off to serve in the war. Interestingly, though I had previously handled eight similar medals in bronze which had been issued to other Champion employees, this one- my grandfather's- did not come down to me as a family heirloom, but rather through the kindness of a stranger named Lucy Brannen, who had somehow acquired it. She tracked down my mother with some internet sleuthing, then sent the medal to Mom, who gave it to me. It has some wear on it, so perhaps Granddaddy carried it as a pocket piece for a while. Not long before this medal so serendipitously appeared, I had reunited a World War 1 love token with a descendant of its original owner, so it was fun to be on the receiving end of a similar quest. 000000
Thanks. Probably the most sentimental piece in my collection, for obvious reasons. One I’ll pass down to the next generation (or maybe a grandchild, if I get one). Would never sell it, obviously. It’s worth more to me than it would be to anyone else, anyway.
I know I would never sell it. At one point in time I had someone working for me with last name "gobrecht". She found out I collect coins and when she asked me one day - my husbands father inherited some coins designed by like his great-great-great grandfather. They don't want to sell them since they been in the family for so long, but would they be worth anything? I was like flabbergasted - she said there was a bunch(not sure how many) and maybe a few dollars. I was like the last Gobrecht dollar coin I looked at was like 30k. I told her the history alone is worth just keeping them - especially if you can show the provenance from designer to current owner. I never did get a listing of the coins.
Good grief! That would’ve been worth just getting a look at, for spectator’s sake, if nothing else! What a story!
Hey I was browsing eBay and I found another one in silver. When I saw it I thought, "I think I've seen this somewhere" but it took me a minute to remember where. Seller's photos:
Wow, amazing! Thanks. As previously mentioned, I had not seen another in silver- until now! I wonder who George Herndon was. He must have been in an influential position in the company. His example doesn’t seem to have been carried as a pocket piece, like my grandfather’s was. Thanks again- I’ll edit my original post.
That was unexpectedly easy... George Everett Herndon (1918-1972). His brother Charles also worked for the Champion Paper and Fibre Co. Here's his draft registration card:
Oh great, what did I get myself into? I already spent like an half an hour researching these. I found silver medals for R.M. Clark, Clarence Poston, Walter Scott Geisler and Cecil Conard. I also found an article on Champion Paper & Fibre exonumia in the February 2003 NTCA journal. It mentioned that Reuben B. Robertson (Logan's father) became vice president of the company in 1935 and president in 1946.
I had Reuben B. Robertson’s commemorative watch fob with a 1935 date on it. He was my maternal great-grandfather. I have faint memories of meeting him when I was a very small child.
And here I had been assuming Granddaddy’s silver medal was unique, since his was the only silver one I’d seen and I had seen eight in bronze. Just goes to show what happens when you assume things.
Reminds me of a similar thing where the great (great great?) grandchild of the Barbers popped up with a bunch of stuff including never before seen photos of I think William Barber. There were some articles in the BCCS journal about it.
