SPECTACULAR & RARE 1853 NEW YORK CRYSTAL PALACE GEM BU MEDAL

There are few medals of any kind that were issued during the 1853 first-ever world's fair in the United States; it followed the first fair anywhere that was held just two years earlier in London. It was the 1851 structure that gave the fair its name. The original Crystal Palace was the largest glass structure ever built at the time of the fair. The New York event was far smaller, with fewer countries and companies represented, than the 1851 version they tried to emulate.

Many collectors and even historians tend to think of the 1876 U.S. Centennial as the "real" first world's fair in the United States. It was vastly larger than the New York fair in physical size, the scope of exhibits was dramatically larger and the site itself was many times larger than New York's 1853 exposition.

This a remarkable medal. It's is just the fourth example of this medal that I have sold since 1979; it is also the second one I have offered in 2025. We're listing this at a sale price now rather than holding it for our upcomiong 2026 world's fair. The world's fair will be a bit larger than the current Civil War underway now. The sale will include expo items from medals to documents to amazing 3D items; as we write this in October 2025, we are quite deeply involved preparing for the world's fair sale. Thus far we have set aside items from more than a dozen expositions--large and small.

Headlining the sale will be items from the expositions in which we have specialized for more than 40 years--the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago 1893) and the Century 21 Exposition (Seattle 1962). We have already acquired TWENTY medals from the original 1851 Crystal Palace. We always have a wide range of rarity and price in every sale we conduct. You can find the several thousand dollar rarity and the very collectible small item selling for less than ten dollars.