| Description |
Alan V. Weinberg comments: Two-tone gold squares in the broad, thick hanger which is too dark in the photos to appreciate. Legends in blue enamel. Pick,shovel & wreath in silver mounted on a heavy gold planchet, hand-inscribed. Plush original presentation case. One of the top 2 or 3 Western American lifesaving/mining medals. Presented to Van Dusen by the San Francisco Stock & Exchange in 1882, Van Dusen immed mailed it to his Ohio Family & never saw it again as he died the following year. I obtained it from his descendant family. Van Dusen rescued several miners in a Gold Hill, Nev mine collapse & went down in the mine depths wearing an experimental ice-based oxygen suit. Of great importance to mining history and early Nevada and San Francisco collectors & historians. |
