Auction Catalogue

8 September 1998

Starting at 12:00 PM

.

Ancient, British and World Coins, Tokens, Historical Medals and Banknotes

The Arts Club  40 Dover St  London  W1S 4NP

Lot

№ 1087

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8 September 1998

Hammer Price:
£110

Sir robert Peel, 75th birthday celebrations, white metal medal by Thomason, bust left, reverse legend in twelve lines within wreath, 53mm (BHM 1327). Extremely fine for wear, original brilliance rather faded , very rare (£30-40)

Recorded in BHM from one specimen only: an example in bronze (Ashmolean Museum); though the existence of white metal specimens would at this time not be unexpected. The note in BHM indicates fifty examples in silver were presented in silver to Peel’s children and grandchildren, though no source of this information is quoted unless it is by inference Thomason’s Memoirs, pp 299-300, also cited; if this is the case it is surprising that no examples in silver are recorded in major British museums or those private collections consulted by Brown in preparation of his work. Which raises the question as to whether the fifty medals in question were in fact white metal, a metal favoured by Thomason, and in its pristine state both brilliant and attractive, rather than silver. The answer cannot at present be known but the medal in any metal is undoubtedly rare.