In going through my father-in-law's estate's coin collection I found a medal that is also listed in Princeton's collection: Bronze medal struck in honor of the Newark Airport. Obverse: DC-3 (Boeing 247?) in flight and the legend "Newark Airport serves America". Reverse: Seal of the City in the center and around the borer the words "CITY OF NEWARK NEW JERSEY MAYOR MEYER C. ELLENSTEIN". Circular: 1 1/4" (32mm) in diameter. I estimate the condition of the coin to be MS-65. Can anyone help with info on this coin - especially an estimate of value? Here are photos: Thanks!
That is a Boeing - B-247 which would date the medal to prior to 1938. Most likely the medal was produced in 1934-1935, when the Boeing 247 was then the premier aircraft, soon to be eclipsed by the DC-3. Determining value on this medal is pretty subjective, they usually will have interests to someone that collects 247 items, or from the Newark Airport. That is one old aircraft I have never flown on, nor probably ever will. I have flown on Trimotors and DC-3 - DC-6's.
Meyer Ellenstein was the Mayor of Newark from 1933-1941, supporting scottishmoney's dating of the piece. I like this piece and will have to keep my eye out for one. I live right next to Newark and have flown out of the airport on almost every trip.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Liberty_International_Airport Dedicated in 1935 by none other than Amelia Earhart. Interestingly this airport was the largest in the world until NY LaGuardia was opened later on.
here is another example, maybe they can give more info http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code...ewvalues=1&newstyle=single&newcurrentrecord=1
This obverse with the plane has several reverses it seems and were minted from the 30's up to at least 1970, I found a medal from 1938 with this reverse: obverse: plane in flight surrounded by words "NEWARK AIRPORT SERVES AMERICA". reverse "36th ANNUAL CONVENTION NEWARK 1938". In the center "SUPREME FOREST" and emblem marked "T.C.L.". Now I also found this page that lists this exact medal but under 1971 and the above link (my previous posting), if you look at the picture, has a date of 1971...I am thinking this might have been minted later, I wouldnt date it as contemporary to the event so fast...it might be but I am seeing it listed as 1970 or 71 and have not been able to find a listing for the 30's with this reverse...not to say it wasnt. The listing is under 1970 Gg on the site below: http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/newman/newman5.html Bronze medal struck in honor of the Newark Airport.Obverse:DC-3 (Boeing 247?) in flight and the legend "Newark Airport serves America".Reverse:Seal of the City in the center and around the borer the words "CITY OF NEWARK NEW JERSEY MAYOR MEYER C. ELLENSTEIN".Circular:1 1/4" (32mm) in diameter.
thanks for your help! I found the one in the Princeton Library and emailed with an inquiry. Their auto response said not to expect to hear from them for 10 days. How do you value something like this? I have two other interesting medals - one (a George Washington Fabius medal) I found someone else inquiring about the same medal on this website. The thread address is: http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=33955. I posted better photos, but thus far, no one has responded. The other medal is a NASA commemorative Apollo 11 medal given to the NASA employees that worked on the mission. I found someone from Huntsville, AL (same location as my father-in-law who worked on the mission) with one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Apollo-11-Flown...74|39:1|66:2|65:12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318 I don't know whether ebay is an acceptable method for valuing coins.
