A harness racing trophy, passed on from generation to generation in a Nova Scotia family, recently gave its owners an unexpected surprise when it was discovered an Olympic medal from the 1900s was buried in the top portion of the relic.
According to a CTV Atlantic feature story, the trophy, which was awarded to Allan Charles MacDonald after he won an ice racing event for trotters in Nova Scotia back in 1928, was passed on from a number of members of the MacDonald family before the medal was discovered.
“They used to have plastic flowers in it, that’s what it was for – just plastic flowers,” said Gerard MacDonald, the great grandson of Allan Charles MacDonald, referring to what his parents used the trophy for. “She (Gerard’s mother) took the flowers out and it was all foil in the bottom of the cup, so she took the foil out to clean it and under the foil was the medal. We probably asked a few family members ‘What’s this? Do you know anything about it?’, and they didn’t, so I remember we just put it in the drawer.”
Earlier this month Gerard was watching a CTV News broadcast, which aired a feature on a woman named Vicki Fitzgerald, who owned an Olympic medal from the 1906 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
“I looked on the TV and I said ‘I have one of those, or something that looks similar,’” MacDonald added. “Then I got it out again.”
The medal was engraved to Mlle F. B. Johnston, who turned out to be a famous photographer. Johnston studied photography in Paris and photographed six U.S. Presidents along with the likes of Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Susan B. Anthony and Mark Twain.
“I don’t know how the family got it (the medal), I don’t know who in the family got it,” he added when trying to figure out the connection the medal had with his family. “I even called my Aunt in Toronto last night – and she’s 81 years old – and I asked ‘Do you know anything about this medal?’ and she said ‘No, never seen it.’ Well I guess it’s obvious she never seen it because it was buried in the cup under the foil.”
The connection between the medal and the MacDonald family remains a mystery.
To watch the video feature, click the following link: Seeking answers to Olympic medal mystery.