Sweden/Norway Nansen Medal 1896

Sweden / Norway

The Failed Expeditions of 1893 and 1896-1897, White Metal Medal, 1896, by Augustus Högel, Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (1861-1930)

Obverse: port-side portrait of the Fram, medallic insert of Nansen, 
Reverse: Salomon August Andrée (1854-1897), the Arctic Balloon Expedition, the balloon Oernen over partial globe, medallic insert of Andrée

Diameter: 50mm 

(Malpas 156; MH III, 335).

Nansen had started on an expedition in 1895 but was forced to abandon ship. He was rescued from Cape Flora in June 1896. He was later (1905) Norway's first ambassador to England. Severe weather forced the postponement of Andrée's expedition from 1896 to the following year, when he and two crewmen, Nils Strindberg and Knut Fraenkel, took off from Svalbard on the 11 July and vanished.

Collezione : Distinctive World Medals