Chicago's Dewey Cup - anyone know anything?

Okay, this is strictly a "If you know anymore than I do, PLEASE tell me" sort of question.

Here is what I know:

Back in oh, 1919 (?) after Admiral Dewey beat the hell out of the Spanish in Asia, he was a national hero. He was lauded everywhere and the country went wild giving him accolades and presentations. City after city invited him for ceremonies, etc.

Chicago ran a "fund" and collected 70,000 (silver) dimes from school children and had Gorham (?) melt them down and create the Dewey Cup as a presentation. Dewey in all of this self importance REFUSED to come to Chicago to accept it.

What I can NOT find out is what happened to the cup? The Chicago history museum used to sell silver charms in the shape of the cup (I have a few dozen) but everyone I asked the question of told me they don't know. I have been able to glean the barest information from the inter-net, but still no resolution to its location.


Anyone have any ideas???

 

"Stolen Dewey Cup still missing"

More info than I found!!!!! I will pursue, thank you!

 

Ah, that is the New York Dewey Cup.........almost every city in the US made up one of these...............thanks though, and I was denied to the eBay forum as well.

 

He was a Commodore then and I have stood on the spot on the USS Olympia where he stated; "You may fire when you are ready Gridley."

 

And of course I depended on my memory to write the original post - the date was closer to 1899. I located the newspaper article in which he "promises" to visit Chicago. The article is interesting as it talks about how the Chicago delegation to New York to arrange his visit we too hung over to arrive at the meeting on time and a bunch of other references to the Mayos of Chicago's behavior!!!!


http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1899/09/29/page/2/article/dewey-coming-in-spring

 

Oh, jeeze, I just found a visitor's review of the Museum and they mention, among other items, seeing "the 1899 Admiral Dewey Loving Cup made from 70,000 dimes". So the damned thing is IN the museum and everyone I spoke to denied it?????

Okay, disregard this thread - its as useless as I am at 4:00 am............

 

Here is an archived 1983 article on The UPI site telling about Admiral Dewey Cup at the Navy Memorial Museum stolen in 1983. It says the gold cup was made by Tiffany and once belonged to Adm. Dewey. It was worth $300,000 on the black market then.

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/11/04/Admiral-Dewey-cup-stolen-from-Navy-museum/6504436770000/

--- Susan

 

I think that refers to the New York Dewey Cup - I was tracking the Chicago Dewey Cup.

But thanks anyway!

 

Everything I am finding indicates it is at the museum. One Tribune article was from this year so it must be there. You must have talked to the wrong people. It is possible that it is not currently on exhibit and the people did not know about it. ..... Hard to get good help these days .....

 

Jeez...
Frightening....
And these people DRIVE!!!!

 

Here is a newspaper article from this year with items on display at the Chicago History Museum and when you scroll through, it's there, photos 9 and 10.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/enter...ago-history-museum-20150325-photogallery.html


The Gorham Silver Co. melted 70,000 dimes to create this loving cup honoring American hero Admiral George Dewey (photo at top) in 1899.

 

The first mention of 20,000 dimes is about 50 kilos of silver. The second mention of 70,000 is about 175 kilos or about one two bar stools fat man.

Clearly the thing is too big to move. Assuming it is not a solid lump it is probably 8 feet high and 4 or 5 feet wide, even at 50 kilos or about 110 pounds it must be massive.

Hard to lose, pretty hard to steal in your coat pocket.

 

About the NY gold one.
"It's 10 pounds, 18-carat (75 percent pure) gold. Look at what gold is selling for in Zurich today (about $383 an ounce)"
At that time about $300,000 and they only offered a $5000. reward? I would have kept too!

 

In the case of the 1983 theft of the gold cup, the Navy didn't even have a photo of the object to give to FBI or the press. They referred everyone to Tiffany's in hopes there might be one there.

 

If any of you have a chance to visit the USS OLYMPIA at Philadelphia do not miss the maritime museum nearby. More to do with this ship and Admiral Dewey is to be found there along with a vast amount of other interests.

 

It looks like the "Secret Lives of Objects" exhibit actually started during spring 2015. Here is the slideshow with an article below it from March 2015
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-secret-lives-of-objects-20150325-column.html

According to the article above the exhibit will be up through 2018.

 

I like that title!
I may swipe it if I enter an art show again sometime.

 

I found it through the link that say_it_slowly posted above. It has its own website, too... but I didn't find much there. http://secretlivesobjects.com/

 

Thanks!
Were I nearby I would visit.