Here's a commemorative medal for the 1963 100th Anniversary of the Arizona Territory. Arizona formally became a US Territory on Febraury 24, 1863; it was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912, becoming the 48th State.
1865 Arizona Territory Map
(Image Credit: Official Map Of The Territory Of Arizona, With All The Recent Explorations, 1865. Image courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford University Libraries.)The Arizona Territory was previously the western section of the New Mexico Territory which was organized in 1850. Note how this early map of the Arizona Territory still includes its northwest corner that would eventually be transferred to Nevada.
Though issued for the Territory Centennial, the medal's design elements certainly tie in closely to Arizona's 50th anniversary of Statehood which was celebrated the year before, in 1962. (See the description printed on the leaflet shown below.)
You'll notice there are 14 stars on the obverse of the medal. Though I have not read of such, IMO, it's possible the stars are meant to represent the fact that a portion of the Arizona Territory seceded during the Civil War and joined the Confederacy - this made it the 14th member of the Confederacy, the 13 others being states. Food for thought...
The flip stapled to the leaflet originally contained the medal; it is how I received the piece from an
ebay seller years back. I don't know if this is the original packaging for when the medal was sold in 1963; it's possible - it looks like a secondary market retail package to me. I took the medal out of the flip and placed it in an Air-Tite (r) holder for long-term protection.
Posted 09/13/2021 10:00 pm
