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Message:: [QUOTE="TheNickelGuy, post: 8236457, member: 20201"]1966 Amelia EarhartSCFC 925 medal [ATTACH=full]1449080[/ATTACH] Commissioned by the Societe Commemorative de Femmes Celebres. (SCFC)One of the least encountered in the set of 50 medals struck to honor famous women. I believe that 3,220 of these were minted in sterling silver. On June 1 1937 Earhart set out to fly around the world, with Fred Noonan as navigator, in Lockheed Electra.Starting from Oakland, California to Miami Florida and then down to South America, crossing the Atlantic to Africa, then east to India and Southeast Asia.Over the following weeks they made various refueling stops before reaching Lae, New Guinea, on June 29.Earhart and Noonan had traveled some 22,000 miles.They had just 7,000 more miles to go before reaching Oakland California. They departed New Guinea on July 2, headed for Howland Island, approximately 2,600 miles away. The flight was expected to be arduous, especially since the small island was difficult to locate. To help with navigation, two brightly lit U.S. ships were stationed to mark the route. Earhart was also in intermittent radio contact with the Itasca, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter near Howland.Nearing Howland, Earhart radioed that the plane was low on fuel. About an hour later she announced, “We are running north and south.”That was the last transmission received by the Itasca.The plane was believed to have gone down about 100 miles from the island, and an extensive and expensive search was undertaken to find Earhart and Noonan.On July 19, 1937, the search was called off. Some believe that she and Noonan crashed after failing to locate Howland, on or just offshore near a different island, perhaps Gardner Island. Others suspect they were captured by the Japanese. Some said she was a spy.Most experts believe that Earhart’s plane simply crashed in the Pacific near Howland after running out of fuel.I personally believe they had radio trouble and could not find Howland Island, ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean and sank into the deep along with the plane. That "Disappeared on solo round-world flight 1937" text on the reverse of this medal may not be correct since she did have another occupant, navigator Fred Noonan.From what I understand, flying "solo" is done without anyone else on board. I could be wrong. I would like to know. My 1952 Topps Look 'n SeeNon Sports Card[ATTACH=full]1449081[/ATTACH] 1974 Amelia EarhartNational Commemorative Societyalso struck by the Franklin Mint [ATTACH=full]1449085[/ATTACH]  [ATTACH=full]1449086[/ATTACH] Mintage 5,292.925 Sterling Silver This is the 125th medal from a unique set of 150 medals, in that the subject for each medal was chosen by members of the National Commemorative Society and a medal for that subject was then designed and minted by the Franklin Mint.This concept was later used for individual issues, but none on the scale of this set. It is also one of the longest running sets in Franklin Mint history - medals were issued one per month for over 12 years. Partial sets are more common; complete sets are rare. Some are commonly available while others, such as this command a premium and are not seen but a few times a year for sale. [/QUOTE]

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