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Lot

№ 1103

.

26 September 2019

Hammer Price:
£35

Captain Webb’s Medal, 34mm, silver, the obverse bearing the portrait of Captain Matthew Webb, the reverse blank within a half laurel and half oak leaf wreath, with small ring suspension, worn and pitted in parts, therefore good fine £40-£50

Captain Matthew Webb (1848-83) was the first man to successfully swim the English Channel, on 24 August 1875, taking 21 hours and 45 minutes. He died whilst attempting to swim the Niagara Falls in 1883, but was crushed to death by the sheer weight of the water in the whirlpool rapids.