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Lot

№ 3098

.

9 December 2014

Hammer Price:
£370

HUDDERSFIELD, Huddersfield College, an engraved silver award medal by E. Eaton, floreant pietas et doctrina, rev. named (Second Classical Medal Presented by W.R.C. Stansfield, Esq, MP 1844, Awarded to James Hirst), hallmarked Birmingham 1843, 56mm, 27.16g. Extremely fine, rare and the earliest medal of its type recorded by Edward Law; with plain border and integral loop for suspension £100-150

Provenance: BDW Auction 7, 21 September 1994, lot 661; bt Baldwin June 2000.

The first Huddersfield College was a proprietary institution, founded in 1838 and opened on 21 January 1839 (Edward Law,
www.homepage.eircom.net). An early initiative by Viscount Morpeth to present a yearly prize, in the form of a gold or silver prize medal, came to naught and it was William Rookes Crompton Stansfield (1790-1871) of Esholt Hall, John Sutcliffe (1775/6-1858) and William Willans (1800-63), respectively the MP for Huddersfield, the president and vice-president of the College, the latter two being wool merchants, who agreed to sponsor prize medals in December 1841