Auction Catalogue

6 February 1998

Starting at 1:00 PM

.

Ancient, British and World Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

The Arts Club  40 Dover St  London  W1S 4NP

Lot

№ 550

.

6 February 1998

Hammer Price:
£380

Sir Hubert von Herkomer, RA (1849-1914), artist and pioneer motorist, lived at Bushey, Herts. A very mechanically-minded individual, von Herkomer was already using a home-made camera obscura in connection with his art by 1870, and by the 1890s he had fully embraced the freedom of the roads offered by the new ‘safety’ bicycle and, later, the motor cycle. He bought his first car, a Panhard, in 1903, joining the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland (which became the RAC in 1907) in the same year. By 1906 he was the owner of a 28hp Daimler. Von Herkomer’s Motoring of 1906, together with the medal he executed for the Royal Automobile and Associated Clubs in 1908 (Attwood, The Medal 4, p.9), are believed to be his only two medallic works.

The footnote to the only other example of this medal handled by the cataloguer (Glendining 21 iii 1990, lot 170 – £380) offers an explanation of the concept of motoring gymkhanas