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Auction: 18005 - British and Foreign Coins and Commemorative Medals
Lot: 818

Scandinavian Polar Expeditions, white metal medal, 1893-97, by A. Högel, portrait of Fridtjof Nansen, his ship the Fram sailing left behind, rev. Salomon Andrée gazing at his balloon Oernen ("Eagle") above a view of the North Pole, 51.79g, 50mm. (Malpas 156), almost extremely fine

This medal depicts two ultimately unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole by Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen and Swede S. A. Andrée. The story of the latter however is more remarkable in that Andrée resolved to use a hydrogen balloon to fly from Svalbard, Norway to either Canada or Russia, and thereby in the process pass directly over the North Pole. As his nation had seemingly fallen behind its rivals in the race to achieve the feat, patriotic fervour gripped the country on news of his plans, garnering him funding from the likes of King Oscar II, Alfred Nobel and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His first attempt to launch in the summer of 1896 was hampered by strong winds. When tried again the following season the balloon successfully recorded 65 hours and 295 miles of undirected flight, however in the process had lost 2 of its three tethering ropes that aided steering.

Undeterred the crew set off for Svalbard arriving in nearby Kvitøya in early October 1897. Sadly the expedition would go no further, as all would subsequently succumb in the hostile environment likely hastened by the physical exhaustion and dehydration onset from the stomach bugs they had acquired during their previous voyages. When the bodies were eventually recovered in the 1930, they received a state funeral, before their ashes were interred in Stockholm, Sweden

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Estimate
£120 to £150