Queen Charlotte Medal 1818 RRR.

[constanius]

The brass medal is BHM#968 RRR.(unlisted in brass) & the other is Vern's bronze version of the same medal http://www.napoleonicmedals.org/coins/bhm-968.htm . As you can see they are very different to each other. It is not uncommon to see variants of medals but what is uncommon is to see variants of a RRR.(extremely rare) medal. One other thing is the reducing marks, which were left on the obverse die(not polished out), are still clearly visible on my medal & if you look closely they are just visible on the reverse too. There was no attempt to hand finish the central portion of the die(which presumably the reducer in use then could not cut), hence the ear unfinished & the big blob on her jaw bone. In the hand none of this is that apparent but in the pics it stands out, I wonder if this was just a trial strike & this version was rejected?

 

So being a variant of a extremely rare medal, in an unlisted metal & as struck is quite a find.

[constanius]

On close inspection there appears to be evidence that the die was already beginning to crack, see the line which extends from the edge beading to & through the last full curl. The die was probably scrapped before any more finishing was done on it. So I am pretty sure my medal is in fact a trial strike. I have only seen one other example of this medal and it matched Vern's medal.

[elverno]

I've got to agree with you about the probability of it being a trial strike or some sort of other working strike. Perhaps they noticed the die crack and decided against finishing the work. That would argue that it predates the more common RRR strikes and may indeed be unique. Very cool indeed.