United States. Three Commemorative Medals

Launching of the U.S.S. Nautilus Commemorative Medal 1954 (in bronze, obverse illustrating the submarine U.S.S. Nautilus backed by the Rutherford model of the atom, inscribed ""U.S.S. NAUTILUS"" above and ""WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR POWERED VESSEL"" below, measuring 39.3 mm in diameter, embedded within a 112 mm (w) x 83 mm (h) cardboard frame inscribed ""TO COMMEMORATE THE LAUNCHING OF THE U.S.S. NAUTILUS / JANUARY 21, 1954"", the fold over cover of the card illustrating a conch fronting the U.S.S. Nautilus, the back cover with the General Dynamics insignia); New York World's Fair Commemorative Medal 1939 (in copper, obverse illustrating the Trylon and Perisphere, two monumental modernistic structures designed by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux that were together known as the Theme Center of the 1939 New York World's Fair, with thirteen stars in the sky and surmounted by the inscription ""NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR"" above, reverse illustrating the Communications Building, measuring 30.8 mm in diameter); and Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York Pilgrimage Souvenir Medal (in brass, obverse illustrating the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and engraver marked ""W. & H. CO."", reverse illustrating an eagle standing upon an open Bible and surmounted by a bishop's crown, a ribbon banner below inscribed ""SOUVENIR OF PILGRIMAGE"", surrounded by the inscription ""THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE / NEW YORK"", measuring 31.8 mm in diameter). Extremely fine.

Footnote: The USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine. The vessel was the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on August 3, 1958. Sharing names with Captain Nemo's fictional submarine in Jules Verne's classic 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in the Second World War, the new atomic powered Nautilus was authorized in 1951, with laying down for construction in 1952 and launched on January 21, 1954, attended by Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States, wife of 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and commissioned the following September into the United States Navy. Final construction was completed in 1955. Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than the then current diesel-electric submarines previously, she broke many records in her first years of operation, and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction. This information was used to improve subsequent submarines. USS Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The submarine has been preserved as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel receives around 250,000 visitors per year. The 1939-40 New York World's Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres (492 ha) of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the location of the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair), was the second most expansive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. It was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of ""Dawn of a New Day"", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at ""the world of tomorrow"". The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is located in New York City on Amsterdam Avenue between West 110th Street and 113th Street in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood. Designed in 1888 and begun in 1892, the cathedral has undergone radical stylistic changes and interruption of construction by the two World Wars. Originally designed in the Byzantine Revival-Romanesque Revival styles, the plan was changed after 1909 to a Gothic Revival design. After a large fire destroyed part of the North Transept and the organ on December 18, 2001, the Cathedral was formally rededicated in November 2008 after the completion of extensive renovations to the Cathedral and its organ. It remains unfinished, with construction and restoration a continuing process. As a result, it is often nicknamed St. John the Unfinished. 

This offering is a part of the "Dr. Albert Goodwin Collection", a preeminent assemblage of world Orders, Medals, and Decorations composed solely by Dr.Goodwin between 1946-1967. Dr. Goodwin had a successful career as an educator and prominent physician in New York as well as actively serving in both World Wars with the United States Medical Corps. He acted as both President and Vice-President of the Orders and Medals Society of America (OMSA) and is responsible for organizing their first convention in 1960. He maintained further membership with the American Society of Military Collectors, the International Orders Research Society, and the American Numismatic Society. His knowledge and passion for history and awards is evident in this meticulously compiled collection that is now available in its entirety for the first time exclusively on eMedals.com.