No Location Vernon Medals

About This Coin

Distinguished from other Admiral Vernon medal varieties by the absence of a specific location inscription identifying the military engagement being commemorated, the No Location Vernon Medals represent a simplified version of the broader Vernon medal series that celebrated Admiral Edward Vernon's capture of Porto Bello in November 1739. Vernon's relatively easy victory over the Spanish colonial port on the Caribbean coast of Panama generated enormous public enthusiasm in Britain and the American colonies, where anti-Spanish sentiment ran high and any military success against the Bourbon powers was cause for celebration. Most Vernon medals explicitly name Porto Bello, Cartagena, or other targets of Vernon's subsequent campaigns, but the No Location varieties omit these geographic references — possibly because they were produced early in the medal-manufacturing cycle before specific victory claims were settled, or because the manufacturer intended a more generic commemorative piece. The medals typically feature a bust portrait of Vernon in naval uniform on the obverse, surrounded by patriotic inscriptions praising the admiral's valor, with the reverse depicting ships, fortifications, or other military imagery appropriate to a naval victory. Struck in copper and brass by private manufacturers — predominantly in Birmingham and London — these medals circulated widely in the American colonies, where they were worn as badges of patriotic sentiment and kept as souvenirs of a military triumph that seemed to validate British imperial power in the Western Hemisphere. The Vernon medals collectively represent the earliest mass-produced commemorative medals to circulate widely in colonial America, predating the Washington medals by half a century and establishing a tradition of popular medallic commemoration that would flourish throughout American history. Collectors catalog these pieces using the Adams-Chao reference system, which organizes the complex die variety network by obverse type, reverse type, and metal composition.