The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 32, July 24, 2005, Article 10

MORE ON THE FORD RIDGEWAY MEDAL

Alan V. Weinberg writes: "The gold Congressional medal
awarded to General Matthew B. Ridgeway was auctioned
as lot 263 in the Stack's John J. Ford Jr Sale # 7 on January
18, 2005. It opened at $5500 and hammered for $13,000 to
collector Michael O'Shea of San Diego.

To my recollection, Ford paid $10,000 for it years earlier.
The medal 's original availability was extensively advertised in
a half page ad , as I recall, in the Maine Antique Digest. I did
not pursue it then as I felt it was "too modern" and apparently
the current sale price also reflected this general feeling as similar
"old" gold medals in the Ford collection have sold for tens of
thousands of dollars more.

I am amazed that a federally-funded institution or museum
like the Smithsonian or West Point did not pursue the Ridgeway
medal and allowed it to fall into private hands again."

[The $10,000 figure is basically correct. The medal was
actually auctioned twice - the original buyer at the first Ridgeway
estate sale did not pay, and it was reauctioned later - that's when
Ford learned of it and brought me in to bid for him. A local
coin dealer was the underbidder the second time around. I
don't know what the initial hammer price was, but it was less
than $10,000.

As another example of how Ford liked to hold his cards
close to his vest, he asked me not to let on that I knew anything
about numismatics when I went to the auction house to view and
bid on the medal. "Go in dressed like a farmer," I recall him
saying. This was no country auction, though, and dressing in
bib overalls and chewing on a piece of straw would not be a
way to blend in with the crowd at a high-end antique auction
house in the swanky end of town. But no one would mistake
me for a high roller anyway, so I went disguised as myself.

The auction took place on a Saturday morning, and the room
was filled with antique collectors and dealers from around the
country. The auction lots were posted on the Internet and
there were online and telephone bidders from around the
country (or around the world, for all I knew). Like most
auctions, the lot was hammered down in a few minutes. I
believe I had to go back the next week to pick it up. I had
the medal for a few days and packed and shipped it to Ford
within a week. -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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