1935 Pony Express Diamond Jubilee Medal Grades GEM+ Unc. As part of the celebrations planned for the 75th ...

1935 Pony Express Diamond Jubilee Medal Grades GEM+ Unc. As part of the celebrations planned for the 75th anniversary of the 1860 launch of the Pony Express service, the Oregon Trail Memorial Association engaged the Coin Department of the Scott Stamp & Coin Company of New York City to strike the "official memento of the Pony Express Diamond Jubilee", however the medal was actually struck by Whitehead & Hoag, a firm which incidentally struck many of the medals in the so called dollar series. The Oregon Trail Memorial Association was the sponsor of the Pony Express Diamond Jubilee. The Jubilee ran from 3 April to 24 October 1935 and featured a "re-ride" of the original Pony Express trail in August. The original 1966-mile trail had its eastern terminus in St. Joseph, Missouri and its western terminus in Sacramento, California. The re-ride was completed by approximately 300 members of the Boy Scouts (the Boy Scouts of America, coincidentally, was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1935). The riders carried mail addressed to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an avid stamp collector, which was given to him after the ride in a ceremony on the White House lawn in Washington, DC. The medal was struck in nickel-silver (i.e., nickel) and is 1.25 inches in diameter. The medal's obverse features a Pony Express rider in full gallop out on the trail, while the reverse depicts one of the many relay stations that were set up along the route so that riders could change horses, get food and water or get some rest if it was the end of their shift. It was designed by William Henry Jackson, the Research Secretary of the Oregon Trail Memorial Association.