Great Exhibition, Hyde Park, 1851, Prize Medal, a copper award by W. and L.C. Wyon, conjoined busts of Victoria and Prince Albert left, trident and dolphins in field, rev. Britannia placing a wreath on kneeling figure of Industry, attended by supporters representing the continents, edge named (J. Hogan, Class XXX), 77mm (Allen A25; BHM 2462; E 1456). Trifling rim nicks, otherwise extremely fine; of considerable Irish interest £200-£260

John Valentine Hogan (1800-58), Ireland’s most eminent neoclassical sculptor; b Tallow, co Waterford, third child of John Hogan, a carpenter from Cork and Frances Cox; moved to Cork 1801; apprentice attorney, then employed as a draughtsman and model-maker; travelled to Rome in the spring of 1824, where he lived and quickly became a prominent figure in the artistic and cultural life of the city until the outbreak of the Roman revolution in 1848, returning to Ireland where he lived at 14 Wentworth place, Dublin; on his death from asthma in March 1858 he left a widow, Cornelia (née Bevignani) and no less than 11 children