artist.shtml medals don-everhart

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You can click medals to switch between obverse and reverse sides.

  • Dance of the Dolphins 1982
    by Don Everhart
    SOM-106.1
    Golden bronze with tan patina

    This design by Everhart was chosen as the 106th issue of the prestigious Society of Medalists series.

    Its obverse bears seven leaping dolphins in waves on deeply recessed field. Below, EVERHART"

    The reverse bears Poseidon's trident over crenulate shell; two dolphins with heraldic hindquarters. In center, THE / DANCE / OF THE / DOLPHINS

    Everhart believed that the Dolphin personified the grace and beauty of the sea to the ancients. As he wrote in the brochure accompanying the medal:

    "Perhaps someday we will communicate with the dolphin on a higher level than thought possible. Maybe then we will learn what they obviously already know; that life is to be enjoyed and celebrated, and that we can live in harmony in our environment."

    Nicola Moss, another SOM sculptor, also created a medal featuring dolphins, called Into the Blue, though not as part of the Society of Medalists series.

    The medal measures 73mm in diameter and was produced by the Medallic Art Company of Danbury, Connecticut. Its reported mintage is 750 pieces in bronze.

    SOM-106.1
    Bronze
    73.0mm (2.87in)
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    THE SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS 106TH ISSUE SEPTEMBER 1982 DON EVERHART, SC.(C)
    (C) 1982 MACO-BRONZE
    Dinosaur 1993
    by Don Everhart
    SOM-125.1
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    SOM-125.2
    Silver

    This design by Everhart was chosen as the 125th issue of the prestigious Society of Medalists series.

    Its obverse bears a Tyrannosaurus Rex with dragonfly in foreground, tree ferns, volcano, and Triceratops in background; three Pterosaurs flying overhad.

    The reverse shows a fossilized skeleton in rough rock.

    Everhart created a beautiful medal that picked up on the Dinosaur craze that went along with the first Jurassic Park movie. It was deservedly very popular.

    He also had an interesting explanation for his design choice for the medal's two sides. As Everhart explained in the brochure accompanying the medal:

    "A medal offers a creative advantage that is not present in conventional sculpture, in that it can exhibit the fourth dimension - time. The two sides of a medal may show two parts of the same story separated by a few seconds, minutes, or days."

    However, in this case, millions of years separate the obverse from the reverse.

    The medal measures 90mm x 87mm and was produced by the Medallic Art Company of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Its mintage is not reported.

    SOM-125.1
    Bronze
    90.0mm x 87.0mm (3.54in x 3.43in)
    SOM-125.2
    Silver
    90.0mm x 87.0mm (3.54in x 3.43in)
    SOM-125 Romance Brochure #1 SOM-125 Romance Brochure #2 SOM-125 Romance Brochure #3 SOM-125 Romance Brochure #4
    
    The Fossil Collection 1994
    by Don Everhart
    SOM-128A: Deinonychus
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    SOM-128B: Pteranodon
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    SOM-128C: Styracosaurus
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    SOM-128D: Stegosaurus
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    SOM-128E: Tyrannosaurus
    Golden bronze with tan patina
    SOM-128F: Diplodocus
    Golden bronze with tan patina

    This multi-medal design by Everhart was chosen as the 128th issue of the prestigious Society of Medalists series.

    This was Everhart's third contribution to the SOM series and represented a breach with tradition as well as the rules that had been set up to govern the series. The six medal issue, held in a 14 x 7 inch leather case, was very much a novelty. The fact that Don Everhart was called upon again, just one year after his very successful SOM-125 medal, was a a breach of its own rule that artists were only eligible to return after a 10-year intermission. The fact that the design merely expanded upon Everhart's earlier medal's design, even included a copy that only differed from it in edge lettering, was a clear signal that the Society was coming to an end.

    I have no knowledge of the internal decision processes, but this release, while meritorious in its own right, represented such a departure from the Society's tradtions that it should never have happened. The commercial success of SOM-125 coupled with an organization in trouble might have made it seem imperative to try to repeat a financial coup, but I tend to think that it represented an acknowledgement of its bankruptcy.

    Just to be perfectly clear, the medals by themselves are beautiful and Don Everhart deserves praise for them; the error lies solely with the Society.

    The medals were produced by the Medallic Art Company of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Their mintage is not reported.

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Books & Articles

American Art Medals, 1909-1995 by David Thomason Alexander
David T. Alexander's book can be purchased at the above link. Highly recommended for anyone interested in SOM. I am deeply indebted to him for all the information I used to document the SOM medals on this site.

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