Commemorative Medals, Numismatic Books

United States of America, Mr and Mrs William Florence, c. 1875, a silver Dollar-size medal, conjoined busts left, rev. SOUVENIR, THE MIGHTY DOLLAR, named (Connie Gilchrist), 42mm. Good very fine, an extraordinary association item of theatrical interest
£120-150

William James (or Jermyn) Florence, born Bernard Conlin (1831-91), actor and producer. The play The Mighty Dollar, by Benjamin E. Woolf, ran for 104 performances at the Park Theatre, New York, in 1875. Two of the leading parts, the Hon. Bardwell Slote and Mrs. General Gilflory, were played by Mr and Mrs William J Florence. The recipient of the medal would seem to be Connie (Constance Macdonald) Gilchrist (1864-1946), daughter of David Gilchrist and Tillie Gilchrist (who modelled nude for James McNeill Whistler). The young Gilchrist was a child actress, dancer and artists' model, who was to marry Edmond FitzMaurice, 7th Earl of Orkney (1867-1951) on 19 July 1892. Shown skipping (she performed a novelty skipping-rope dance at London’s Gaiety music hall), she was the subject of James McNeill Whistler’s Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl, painted in 1873. She was also painted by Frederick Lord Leighton (The Music Lesson, 1877), and Frank Miles and photographed by Lewis Carroll who, it seems, took a particular interest in her