Special Collections
Co ANTRIM, Belfast, Belfast Academical Institution, 1810, a silver medal by Younge & Deakin, legend in four lines under scroll, named (M. McKay), rev. seated robed female placing wreath over the head of a boy who holds an open book, building in background, 48mm, 50.59g (Grimshaw p.46; cf. E 1013; MG 928; cf. DNW 138, 443). Somewhat scuffed and with suspension removed, otherwise about very fine, rare £80-100
This lot was sold as part of a special collection, British Educational Award Medals from the Collection formed by the late T.H. Watts.
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The Belfast Academical Institution, known in Belfast as the ‘Inst’, was formally opened on 1 February 1814 – construction had started with the laying of the foundation stone by the 2nd Marquess of Donegal on 3 July 1810. In 1831 William IV granted the institution a royal title (see next lot); the joint boards of managers and visitors accepted the title, less out of loyalty than the need to appropriately distance the Institution, in the later nineteenth century, from its radical-republican origins and to secure a government grant to maintain the collegiate department
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