In 1904, workers were excavating for construction of a subway power house near EleventhAvenue between Fifty-Eighth and Fifty-Ninth streets in Manhattan. A workman dug up a largesilver medal, took it home to clean it and returned to turn it over to the son of former policeCaptain John Delaney.

Delaney recognized the name on the medal as Thomas Sampson. He knew that Charles H.Phillips, a records keeper at the police headquarters, was the brother of James C. Phillips, whowas married to Cornelia Sampson, daughter of Thomas. The medal was sent to Cornelia, residingat Mount Vernon, New York.

The medal was presented to Sampson in 1856 by the Life Savings Benevolent Association ofNew York (LSBANY). The medal is 51.1 mm diameter and should contain about 41 grams of.999 silver. It was struck by Tiffany & Co., with dies attributed to George Hampton Lovett.

The obverse shows a ship foundering in the surf. On the shore is a refuge station while workersuse a Lyle gun to fire a lifeline to the ship. Around the inner border near the top is the legend"LIFE SAVING BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK." In the exergue is "INC 29thof MARCH / 1849."

The reverse has an oak wreath and legend: "VITA FELICIBUS AUSIS SERVATA." Thistranslates from the Latin as, "Human Life Saved by Successful Daring Deeds." The central fieldis engraved:

The presentation was mentioned in the New York Tribune of August 23, 1856. The articlereported, "During the last few years Mr. Thomas Sampson, an officer attached to the Chief'sbureau but appointed from the Eighteenth Ward, has rescued no less than six persons who has, bytheir own imprudence or by accident, fallen into the docks. In some of these instances this officerhas jeopardized his life to save those of his fellows."

The Association transmitted the medal by letter to the chief of police to be presented toSampson.

In 1855, New York Mayor Fernando Wood presented Sampson with a silver medal for savingfour lives but no water rescues were described. I have been unable to find contemporarydescriptions of any of the water rescues cited in awards.

The 1888 lifesaving medal awarded by Congress was reported as his sixteenth medal. Obituarieswritten in 1901 mention the sixteen medals. There is no mention of any lost medal.

In 1886, Congress passed an Act to grant a gold medal to Thomas Sampson. This requiredverification of the lifesaving events honored. Sampson was not able to provide eyewitnesses tothe events thirty some years earlier.

In 1888, Congress passed a second Act. It was reported that Sampson used two medals asverification. These had been presented by the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New Yorkfor his lifesaving acts in 1854 and 1856. While Thompson is credited with saving at least thirteenlives, only the five noted on the LSBANY medals were mentioned on the Congressional GoldMedal.

This verifies that the two LSBANY medals were in the possession of Sampson in 1888. Otherreports say he kept the medals in a safe at the Sub Treasury or at a safe at the house of a friend.

How did the one medal get to the excavation site in 1904 and what happened to all the rest of theThompson medals? As William Shatner would say, "the answers remain, unexplained." (A TVshow catchphrase)

For some people a gold medal is like a cash award. Heirs who receive gold medals may chooseto have them melted to receive the value in cash. There is a high probability that the Sampsonmedals have been melted.

I have not found any past record of sale of the Sampson medals. If they came up for auctiontoday, these recent articles might provide added value.

If the Sampson medals were unique and lost or destroyed, is there any value to these recentarticles? Will anyone care about the story for a medal that does not exist?

In 1901, the U. S. Navy instituted an award for service in the West Indies during the SpanishAmerican War. The Sampson medal is named for Admiral William Thomas Thompson and isunrelated to New York Captain Thomas Sampson.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
GOLD MORGAN COMITIA AMERICANA SURFACES(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n09a34.html)
HONEST TOM SAMPSON (1827-1901)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n10a14.html)
THE 1888 SAMPSON LIFE SAVING MEDAL(https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n11a14.html)