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George III (1760-1820), Christs College, Cambridge, Porteus Medal, 1808, in gold, by J. Phillp, laureate bust of George III left, rev. gateway decorated with College arms, edge engraved (Percy Gardner, mdccclxviii), 43mm (BHM 632; E 991). Obverse die flaw, otherwise brilliant mint state, rare, an interesting piece of considerable numismatic interest; in original red fitted case by John Gilliam, goldsmith and silversmith, Serle St, Lincoln’s Inn (£1,000-1,200)

Percy Gardner, FSA (1846-1937), born in Hackney, London, was educated at City of London School and Christ’s College, Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow in 1872. He started work at the British Museum the previous year, becoming one of the editors of the British Museum catalogues of Greek coins published between 1873 and 1886. From 1887 to 1925 he was Professor of Classical Archaeology at Oxford University. His literary output was considerable, and included scholarly works on Parthian coins (1877), Samos and Samian coins (1882), types of Greek coins (1883), and a numismatic commentary on Pausanias (1887), besides many other papers published in the Numismatic Chronicle. He co-authored a manual of Greek antiquities with Dr Jevons in 1895 and continued to write on Greek and religious matters through the first three decades of the 20th century. Gardner was elected a fellow of the Numismatic Society of London [later the Royal NS] in 1871 and remained a member until his death; he was the Society’s seventh medallist in 1889. Further biographical details are sold with the lot