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Auction: 26776 - America 250th Anniversary Sale Ft. Coins, Medals, Banknotes, Objets de Vertu & Ephemera
Lot: 140

USA, Libby Prison War Museum, Columbian World's Fair Libby Prison, AE Exhibit Medal, 1893, LIBBY PRISION, view of the building, WAR MUSEUM CHICAGO 1893 in exergue in two lines, rev. NO SECTIONALISM 1861 NO NORTH NO SOUTH 1856 NO ANIMOSITY, eighteen line inscription, 69mm, 185.55g (Eglit 477), lightly contact marked, including a scratch to the obverse edge and exergue, otherwise very fine

Provenance

Spink 22180, 13 December 2022, lot 628


Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. In 1862 it was designated to hold officer prisoners from the Union Army. As the conflict wore on, it gained an infamous reputation for overcrowded and harsh conditions, with prisoners suffering high mortality from disease and malnutrition. By 1863, one thousand prisoners were crowded into large open rooms, with open, barred windows leaving them exposed to weather and temperature extremes.

The building was built before the war as a tobacco warehouse and then used for food and groceries before being converted to a prison. It was considered second only to Andersonville in Georgia in terms of notoriety and suffering.
One of its most dramatic episodes came in February 1864, when 109 Union officers escaped from Libby through a 50-foot-long tunnel; only 48 were recaptured.

In 1889, Charles F. Gunther, a candymaker, bought the building. He had it disassembled and moved to downtown Chicago, where it was rebuilt to serve as a war museum. The contract for hauling the material was given to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, which used a total of 132 twenty-ton cars.

The museum was a remarkable and eclectic mix. Over 100,000 visitors toured the museum during its first three months in 1889, with a total first-year attendance of 250,000. Highlights included an extensive collection of Civil War flags, Lincoln assassination relics, personal items belonging to Andrew Johnson, manuscripts by American generals, and details of the famous tunnel escape. The museum became a national centre for veterans, who managed its day-to-day operations, published a monthly newspaper, guided tours, and hosted reunions of ex-prisoners.


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Estimate
$100 to $150

Starting price
$80