103426 | UNITED STATES & LATIN AMERICA. Admiral Edward Vernon brass Medal.

103426  |  UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, PANAMA & SPAIN. Admiral Edward Vernon brass Medal. Dated 1739. Commemorating the capture of Porto Bello in Panama (36mm, 12.95 g, 6h).

 

THE · BRITISH · GLORY · REVIV · D · BY · ADMIRAL · VERNON, half-length bust of Vernon standing slightly left, holding baton and pointing // HE · TOOK · PORTO · BELLO · WITH · SIX · SHIPS · ONLY · 1739 ·, view of the harbor at Portobelo, with six ships in foreground; in two lines in exergue, BY COURAGE · AND / CONDUCT. Edge: Plain.

 

Betts 200; Adams-Chao PBv 22-S (R-5); McCormick-Goodhart 43; MI 536/111; Milford Haven 187; Medina 16. Choice Extremely Fine. Mostly even brown surfaces, with some lighter hues and remaining brilliance among the more protected areas. Compare to a similar specimen graded NGC AU-53 (with a bit less wear but also with somewhat less attractive surfaces), which realized a total of $414.80 in Heritage 63335 (19 January 2026), lot 92033 (and for which its current owner wants at least $622.

 

Ex John W. Adams Collection.

 

A pivotal naval base for Spanish forces in the new world, Porto Bello (now styled Portobelo in the Colón Province of Panama) allowed for persistent harassment of British ships by their Spanish counterparts throughout the Caribbean. In 1739, British vice admiral Edward Vernon boasted that he could take the port with a fleet of just six ships and, in November of that year, did just that—a feat which garnered him tremendous popular acclaim and an issuance of numerous medals (such as the present piece) in his honor. This decisive naval engagement was a part of the War of Jenkins' Ear, itself a subset of the War of the Austrian Succession (the genesis of another conflict—the French and Indian War in the North American theater).

 

Upload: 2 March 2026.

 

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