Bennington Battle Monument Dedication Medal 1891 — Vermont Centennial | Stark & Warner | So-Called Dollar | Original Ribbon | Very Fine

Some objects were made to be kept. This is one of them.

On 19th August 1891, President Benjamin Harrison stood before a crowd of several thousand people in Old Bennington, Vermont, and dedicated a 306-foot limestone obelisk to one of the most decisive engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The Battle of Bennington, fought on 16th August 1777, had seen General John Stark and 1,400 New Hampshire militiamen — aided by Colonel Seth Warner's Green Mountain Boys — decisively defeat two detachments of General Burgoyne's invading British army. Saratoga followed. The war turned. This medal was struck for that dedication day.

The obverse carries portraits of the two heroes of Bennington: Maj. Gen. J. Stark on the left and Col. Seth Warner on the right, enclosed in twin circles beneath a spread American eagle, with a shield and laurel wreath below. BATTLE OF BENNINGTON FOUGHT AUG. 16. 1777 arcs above, and VERMONT ADMITTED INTO THE UNION MARCH 4. 1791 runs beneath — the dual centennial that made this occasion doubly significant. The day marked not only the monument's dedication but the centenary of Vermont's admission as the fourteenth state of the Union.

The reverse shows the monument itself — that great limestone shaft as it appeared in its dedicating year — with BENNINGTON BATTLE MONUMENT. DEDICATED AUG. 19. 1891. surrounding it in full.

One extraordinary detail: the medal was struck by Philadelphia medalist William H. Warner. The same Warner who was brother to Colonel Seth Warner — one of the two men whose portrait he placed upon the face of his own medal. History made intimate by coincidence of name and blood.

This is a So-Called Dollar, catalogued as HK-152, struck in white metal. It remains on its original red, white and blue ribbon with suspension ring intact — a complete and original example of a piece issued for one of the great American commemorative occasions of the nineteenth century. These medals were produced for attendees and supporters at the dedication ceremony and have been actively collected by American numismatists and Revolutionary War historians ever since.

The medal presents in Very Fine to Extremely Fine condition. The strike is sharp and clean throughout, with fully legible legends on both sides and well-defined portrait detail to both Stark and Warner. The ribbon shows honest age but remains complete and intact — an increasingly rare survival on examples of this type.

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