HK-592 1881-1882 Baltimore Oriole Celeb & Baseball

#1 · June 8, 2013, 2:19 pm

Do the 1881 and 1882 Baltimore festival medals fit the SCD criteria for size? I see some are holed so that would disqualify them. I do not see them listed on the John Raymond site...

Uploaded files:

#2 · June 8, 2013, 2:37 pm

Quote from Pioneer on June 8, 2013, 2:37 pm
I recently was lucky to acquire an really nice example of HK-592 (see photo), a piece of history from the 1882 Baltimore Oriole Festival. I thought i'd post some information I learned about the 1881 and 1882 Baltimore Oriole Celebrations.

First, the 1881 and 1882 celebrations marked different things. The 1881 festival was held to celebrate clean drinking water, and the theme here is the same as in the HK-69 and HK-589 pieces. In October 1881, the first dam at Loch Raven on the Gunpowder River (started in 1875 at a cost of $4.7 million) was dedicated and became the primary source for much of Baltimore's drinking water. The Battle Monument (reverse of the 1881 piece) at Calvert and Fayette streets was transformed into a huge fountain from which 1,200 water jets spouted. The Rulau Md-Ba 6D piece from 1881 marks this event (please see separate post on this site under the best SCD section, but i've reposted this piece). Over 150,000 people visited the city for the festival, and numerous businesses benefited from the event, with numerous exonumia pieces making this historical event.

The 1882 celebration (12-14 Sep 1882), held to build on the success of the 1881 event, marked the day (Sep 12) on which Baltimore normally celebrated its defense of the city against the British in the War of 1812 (see Battle of North Point & Star Spangled Banner). Sept 13 was "Lord Baltimore" Day. Sep 14 was "Mystic Day," supervised by the Mystic Order of the Oriole. A huge carnival and parade was held, and numerous high quality artistic items (paintings, prints, cards, medals, etc) were created/sold. By 1883, the Oriole festival had wide recognition, and this led to the creation of "Oriole Park," a baseball exhibition ground. This is the origin of the Major League Baseball team, the "Baltimore Orioles." The Oriole festival did not fare as well as the baseball team, with the celebrations/carnival dying out. However, the baseball team remains as a huge money-maker and fun public organization. These medals should be of great interest to anyone who collects or enjoys Baltimore Oriole Baseball History.

I recently was lucky to acquire an really nice example of HK-592 (see photo), a piece of history from the 1882 Baltimore Oriole Festival. I thought i'd post some information I learned about the 1881 and 1882 Baltimore Oriole Celebrations.

First, the 1881 and 1882 celebrations marked different things. The 1881 festival was held to celebrate clean drinking water, and the theme here is the same as in the HK-69 and HK-589 pieces. In October 1881, the first dam at Loch Raven on the Gunpowder River (started in 1875 at a cost of $4.7 million) was dedicated and became the primary source for much of Baltimore's drinking water. The Battle Monument (reverse of the 1881 piece) at Calvert and Fayette streets was transformed into a huge fountain from which 1,200 water jets spouted. The Rulau Md-Ba 6D piece from 1881 marks this event (please see separate post on this site under the best SCD section, but i've reposted this piece). Over 150,000 people visited the city for the festival, and numerous businesses benefited from the event, with numerous exonumia pieces making this historical event.

The 1882 celebration (12-14 Sep 1882), held to build on the success of the 1881 event, marked the day (Sep 12) on which Baltimore normally celebrated its defense of the city against the British in the War of 1812 (see Battle of North Point & Star Spangled Banner). Sept 13 was "Lord Baltimore" Day. Sep 14 was "Mystic Day," supervised by the Mystic Order of the Oriole. A huge carnival and parade was held, and numerous high quality artistic items (paintings, prints, cards, medals, etc) were created/sold. By 1883, the Oriole festival had wide recognition, and this led to the creation of "Oriole Park," a baseball exhibition ground. This is the origin of the Major League Baseball team, the "Baltimore Orioles." The Oriole festival did not fare as well as the baseball team, with the celebrations/carnival dying out. However, the baseball team remains as a huge money-maker and fun public organization. These medals should be of great interest to anyone who collects or enjoys Baltimore Oriole Baseball History.

Uploaded files:

#3 · June 9, 2013, 8:22 pm

Thought i'd post some additional items, including some posted by Jeff and Bill H elsewhere. Note that the piece from Bill Hyder here is dated 1882 and is different from my 1881 piece posted above. edited by rjesinger on 6/8/2013

#4 · June 10, 2013, 7:25 am

Congratulations Bill G. That is a really tough piece in my opinion, and it's great to see one preserved and in good hands for the future.

#5 · August 26, 2013, 8:18 pm

While this piece is from the later 9-14 Sep 1889 Maryland Exposition (see HK-616), I thought it fit in with the above information as the medal mentions the Battle of North Point (with monument on the reverse) and the bombardment of Ft. McHenry. Many thanks to Robert Mayer for storing and now selling these wonderful badges.

Uploaded files:

#6 · January 5, 2014, 5:59 pm

Here is another from Maryland.

So-Called Dollar Discussions

HK-592 1881-1882 Baltimore Oriole Celeb & Baseball