Historical and Art Medals, Numismatic Books

20th Century, Wireless Telegraphy on the S.S. Republic, Ohio and the Titanic, 1912, a bronze plaque by E.-J. de Brémaecker for the Société Hollandaise-Belge de la Médaille d’Art, diaphanous female figure above ship’s rigging over an expanse of sea, rev. legends around smoking torch, 66 x 53mm. Very fine, rare (£300-400)

Plate 4. The inscriptions on this plaque include the names of John George Phillips and Harold Bride, the two wireless operators in the Marconi radio room on the Titanic. Phillips was the senior radio officer and perished in the disaster, while Bride, his deputy, survived. Both men had stayed at their posts until three minutes before the Titanic sank, despite having been earlier released from their duties by Captain Smith. Bride later gave testimony to both the American and the British boards of inquiry into the Titanic disaster, describing what iceberg warnings had been received on that fateful night. The plaque was produced soon after the sinking and demonstrates the truly international nature of the tragedy and the people affected