#3 • 1ozt .9995 Fine Gold Captain Cook Commemorative Bicentennial Medallion

Part of September 2024 Premier Auction (live auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $2,400.00

Status: Sold

Category: Alaskana

A numbered 18/1000 Captain Cook Commemorative Medallion certified to be one troy ounce of .9995 fine (pure) gold. Released to honor the bicentennial (1778-1978) celebration of the Cook Inlet Exploration as performed by British explorer, cartographer, and naval officer Captain James Cook (1728-1779). Captain Cook's third major voyage brought him to the Southcentral Alaska coastline in 1778 while looking for a Northwest Passage to the Hudson Bay; he and his crew from the HMS Resolution and Discovery dropped anchor in the Turnagain Arm area of what is now Cook Inlet near Anchorage, Alaska. While ashore, a bottle containing two pieces of English coin and a paper on which the ships' names were inscribed was buried in the ground. Ten days later, Cook moved on to what is now Prince William Sound, the Aleutians, and into the Bering Sea, before turning south again to the Sandwich Islands. Coin displays a profile images of the subject on the obverse, an image of the ship on the reverse, and is housed in a wooden display case measuring approximately 3.5" x 3.5" x 1" thick.