Interesting research project and mystery that I hope that one of you can help us solve. My sister and I recently acquired some of the assets of a pawn shop where the owner retired about 10 years ago. Nothing is identified or categorized, so we have spent the last few weeks starting to go through the first couple of boxes. There are tons of stamps, first day covers, collectibles, coins, and medals lots of junk and late night infomercial impulse buys, but occasionally we come upon something interesting. As my sister was looking through a mixed box of foreign coins and commemorative medals, one of them caught her eye. It was fairly large and appeared to be made of bronze. Upon further inspection, she saw the inscription at the bottom Olympic Games - London 1908. We figured that it was just a souvenir from the Games until we saw what had been engraved on the edge VAUGHTON and SECOND PRIZE - 15 METRE YACHT RACE Could this be a real Olympic medal? We started doing some research on the 1908 Olympics and the medal is the correct size and weight AND there was a 15 Metre class in the sailing competition. This was the first Olympics where the gold / silver / bronze medal tradition started, but why then would a 2<sup>nd</sup> place finish get a bronze medal instead of a silver medal? The protocol at this competition was that the skipper and his first mate would be awarded the appropriate medal for their finish while the rest of the crewmembers would get a medal one step down from that, so it was absolutely appropriate to find a bronze medal with SECOND PRIZE stamped on it. The next question that came to mind was Where is the ribbon? The tradition of the medals being worn didnt start until 1960, so again it is entirely appropriate to NOT have a ribbon or a place where a ribbon to go. One issue that has come up that we havent found an answer for yet is that while there was a 15 Metre yacht class scheduled for these Olympics, none of them competed because none of them were completed yet as the rating formula had only been announced 6-8 months before. 15 Metre refers to the rating formula, not to the length of the boat. This racing craft were over 100 long and had a racing crew of 12-15 sailors. Heres where Im hoping one of you has contacts or suggestions how we can get this medal authenticated. Our feeling is that this is a real Olympic medal that was produced prior to the Olympics for the 15 Metre class, but never awarded because there werent any entries. There were only about 250 of each medal produced, so if authentic, this has to be quite rare. Any help or guidance that you can offer will be greatly appreciated J
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