Historical and Art Medals, Numismatic Books

Warwickshire, Coventry & Midland Manufacturing, Art & Industrial Exhibition, 1867, a silver award medal by W.F. Taunton for Ottley, cityscape, four coats of arms and wreath around, rev. Lady Godiva on horseback within garter, wreath around, edge named (Elkington & Co), 70mm (D & W 55/89; Allen Pt 1; cf. DNW 50, 1110). Extremely fine and a most handsome medal with an interesting medallic association; very rare in silver (£180-220)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Exhibition Medals in Gold and Silver from the Collection of James Spencer.

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Plate 5. Elkington & Co, one of the most important names in English silver and certainly the most important in silver plate, was founded as a firm of silversmiths in Birmingham in 1836. By 1838 they had discovered and patented a new way to electroplate one metal onto the surface of another and production of electroplated wares had begun by 1840. The company received financial backing from Josiah Mason in 1842 (becoming Elkington, Mason & Co between 1842 and 1861) and was extremely successful, particularly at the Great Exhibition of 1851. By the mid-1850s the company started medal manufacture and remained in that line of work for over 100 years. Elkingtons held royal warrants for Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI. The Elkington & Co. name is still in use today as manufacturers under the auspices of British Silverware Ltd