Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

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Southfork Creek
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Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Southfork Creek » Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:32 pm

Here's a mystery to me. I thought someone here might like to see it.

This little medal came in a bunch of parts from 1911 Ford I bought years ago. The metal appears to be dated 1909, so it obviously predated that car, which I later restored and sold, and the medal got thrown into a can in the shop, which I am trying to now clean up.

The date on the front of the metal, which is about watch fobs sized, is November 25, 1909. The obverse reads "Winner, Edgewater-Fort Lee Hill Climb," and shows a sailboat and a speedster going up a hill. The date is written: Nov, 25, '09.

The reverse has what appears to be a maker's mark, that's not very clear even under high magnification. The arch appears to read "Lambert???" and below that are the letters N.Y. and a C, which I presume means New York City.

The loop at the top of the medal look like it has some wear on it, so I'm thinking somebody probably did wear it as a watch fob. The size is about the size of a half dollar, if anyone remembers what those looked like.
Attachments
1909 Hill Climb Medal 001.jpg
1909 Hill Climb Medal 002.jpg


Dropacent
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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Dropacent » Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:46 pm

Don’t know anything about it but I’m a buyer if you are a seller. Tmorsher@icloud.com


MichaelPawelek
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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by MichaelPawelek » Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:54 pm

If you Google “ Edgewater-Fort Lee Hill Climb” you will get about 30 web sites/pages of information.


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Southfork Creek
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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Southfork Creek » Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:45 pm

Thanks Tim and Michael,

Tim, you got a first right of refusal, at least, on the Hill Climb medal. I'll send you a PM. We'll work something out.

Michael, wow that event got several write-ups in the New York Times of the days.

Looks like they had to stop the race before all the heats were completed because the spectators kept crowding too close to the course and kept getting run over! Ouch!

Rollie


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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Wayne Sheldon » Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:52 pm

John W said "Looks like they had to stop the race before all the heats were completed because the spectators kept crowding too close to the course and kept getting run over! Ouch!"


That was a very common problem in the early days of racing! This is where and why history needs to always be considered in the context of its time. In the first few decades of automobiles, people had no real concept of speed. They had lived their entire lives at a hard working but slow pace. Most people had never experienced anything bigger than a small animal traveling faster than 20 mph. Basically a running dog was the fastest thing they ever saw! Even trains (which were like jet aircraft are to us for the people of 1880!) rarely exceeded 40 mph anywhere, and 95 percent of people never ever got to see such a thing!
So along come racing automobiles. Speeds approaching 60 mph were possible by heavy mechanical monsters! Horse races between small towns had been commonplace for hundreds of years. People would stand in the middle of the road and watch as the horses galloping into town came closer. But a horse run for distance cannot run much over 15 mph for very long at all. Even a crowd would move slowly to the side of the road to allow the running horses to pass as they approached. The very notion that a small crowd cannot move fast enough to get out of the way of an automobile moving toward them at 50 mph jus hadn't been realized yet.
Even in Europe, several early road races were halted partway through due to spectators being killed, unable to move out of the automobile's way in time.
It just didn't make sense. Getting out of the way of an automobile couldn't be that much different than from a running horse? Could it?

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Rob
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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Rob » Mon Sep 20, 2021 4:26 pm

John,
Medals, trophies and cups to past competitions are always interesting. This is what I found with a quick search.

It looks like the hill climb, while well advertised and with many big name entries initially, suffered from several setbacks (as mentioned above). It was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving Day, then postponed the evening before Thanksgiving to December 4th, and completed the following week. Famous drivers Strang, Bruce, Robertson and others committed, but by the final race day several didn't make it. According to the article below, gold and bronze medals were awarded for all classes, with "trophies for the important events."
6338196C-FAB9-4268-95E7-1A76081F7C1B.jpeg
FDF67697-295B-406F-A3E3-B6CA272385A0.jpeg
George Robertson, a well known driver of the period, had the fastest time overall, driving a Simplex:
6749A2CB-82F4-45D4-87DE-8DD7B161FF15.jpeg
I found it difficult to determine who may have received what regarding awards, and it may be that trophies and medals were awarded on both the 5th and 9th?

This article reports times for the 5th, before the meet was stopped. The good news being a Model T won the $850 and less class (and the Ford time would have won the next class up, cars costing $1250 and less):
666D9BB5-17B1-4087-9508-EDE0600D0641.jpeg

National magazines covered the second portion of the meet, with Robertson turning in the fastest time:

5F10D60E-DE77-4A37-A16F-2396B86C7495.jpeg
You have quite an interesting piece of history.
Cheers,
Rob

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Rob
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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Rob » Mon Sep 20, 2021 4:34 pm

I meant to include this N.Y. Times piece, reporting three cups and one gold and two bronze medals were awarded. It appears the "cup" reference in the article was for another hill climb. Looking at this further, my guess is there were gold, silver and bronze medals delivered for the top three finishers.
EF37BF35-1E2C-4FE7-89A9-3B11659DAE17.jpeg


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Re: Mystery Hill Climb Medal from 1909

Post by Southfork Creek » Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:10 am

Thank you very much Rob! I love reading your stories of racing and auto history. Fascinating. Thanks again for all your hard work.

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