constanius

Nice medal Vern, as Saor Alba states it was a very significant event for Scotland & in fact England. George even donned the kilt & it symbolized a true union of the two countries and a new beginning. Shame that the two great countries seem to be drifting apart, as Great Britain(including Ireland & Wales) they dominated & helped bring about the modern scientific world. They were greater than the sum of their individual parts. Obv: Laureated head of George IV, left. GEORGE IV KING OF GREAT BRITAIN. Rev: A Scottish thistle, SCOTLAND EXULTS IN THE PRESENCE OF HER KING. BHM#1196 AE R. Br R. 26mm by ? 1822

William III was Dutch & spent much of his time in the Netherlands, mind he did find time to visit his father-in-law in Ireland!!! . Anne was 37 when she became Queen, had been pregnant at least 18 times, was obese & hardly went anywhere. George I was Hanoverian(German) spoke hardly any English, ascended the English throne aged 54 & only ever visited Hanover, where on his 6th & last trip he died & was buried there. George II was like his father born in Hanover, only came to England when he was 31, when his father became King. Also visited Hanover while King. England itself was, to them both, a foreign enough land. During those times the Jacobite problem meant that no British monarch would have felt very secure visiting rebelious Scotland. George III was the first of the Hanoverian monarchs to be born in England or to speak English as his first language. He was shy & retiring by nature, deeply religious & spent hours in prayer. He loved his wife & remained faithful to her, they had many children & George became a real family man. He very seldom went anywhere even in England. So it is hardly a suprise that George IV was the first monarch to visit Scotland & Ireland since the Acts of Union. As a Sassenach please accept my sincere apologies for any offence caused by the absence of a Royal Progress by those Dutch & German kings of England any earlier I am sure if they had realized how upset you Scots were even they might have made an effort, no true English King/Queen of Britain would have been so insensitive to your feelings. Remember Edward I, he loved Scotland so visited many times but was never was made to feel very welcome. I have holidayed in Scotland many times, where I live now(Canada) I can attend Highland Games in Georgetown & in Fergus each year

Thanks for that Ian Have been on holiday in Florida for the last 14 days, without my computer, so only just seen your post.

Thanks for the link Arminius, very nice, if people use Google Chrome(my browser of choice) it can translate pages on the fly into whatever language they want.

Oh you are such a tease, come on show us the medals

The only 2 candidates I could find for C.L. are; C.L. Conrad Laufer, Counter-manufacturer at Nuremberg, 1637-1688.(My choice for now, unless you have a better candidate) & C.L. Caspar Longerich, Mint-master at Treves, 1683-1693. Would be nice if we could be sure on which of the Paparels ordered this one. Freuardent states these were banned in France, yet Paparel had his name engraved on them, which does seem strange. Looking forward to any info you can dig up Ian When Louis XIV died & Philippe became regent because the treasuries were depleted he, Paparel, along with many others, was charged with embezzlement & he was sentenced to death but this was commuted to life imprisonment & eventually he was allowed to spend the rest of his life on the island of Sainte-Marguerite in Provence with a pension of a 1000 francs. Feuardent: "All these chips without date, which we find for the Ordinary and Extraordinary War, 714 to 925 have been acquired by order of Paparel, the famous Treasurer of wars, probably in the service of considerable numbers of military personnel in charge of its accounting. There is little tokens of French manufacture in service, while the German chips abound and yet at that time, the entry of German tokens was banned in France. Their cheapness had probably committed the great servant to commit fraud with these chips, as the chips were considered benign"(please excuse the garbled translation)

Feuardent 925. Brass 25mm Tresoriers Militaires des Armees. Obv.LVDOVICVS MAGNVS.REX Bust r. signed C L Rev. DAT.FRVCTVS.DAT.QVE.CORONAS. Un grenadier charge de fruits, sous les rayons solaires. Exe. ORD.DES.GVERRES.PAPAREL.TRES. He/she/it gives produce/crops/fruit/profit/enjoyment/reward; and he/she/it gives crowns/garlands/awards. A pomegranate tree laden with fruit under the Suns rays. The Sun probably represents Louis XIV(the Sun King) who is supplying the good things in life. Paparel the Treasurer-General of the Ordinaires des Guerres had these jetons made in Germany for use in France, which just happened to be illegal at that time. Quote from Guy Rowland's 2002 "The Dynastic State and the Army Under Louis XIV: Royal Service...."; "The Ordinaires des Guerres was the oldest channel for military expenditure, reaching back to the mid-fifteenth century foundations of the standing army. By the 1660's it covered all expenditure that had been thought necessary in peacetime a hundred years earlier. The efforts of the crown to overhaul the fortresses and artillery, and the rapid growt in forces in the 1620's and 1630's, relegated the Ordinaires des Guerres to lowly secondary significance as it came to be dwarfed by its precocios sibling, the Extraordinaire. Moreover the Ordinaire was in a state of great confusion troughout the seventeenth century and the accounts were, in some cases, in atrocious states of neglect dating back to the 1590's. It handled around 2 million livres per annum by the end of the century, on which some commission was taken by its Treasurers-General. Until 1669 the two Treasurers-Generals had served together as a team but hence forth they would alternate each year in office. The most significant of these men were Claude Paparel & his son and successor Francois, who between them spanned Louis XIV's personal rule & who were closely related to La Touanne Treasurer-General of the Extraordinaire Des Guerres from 1686 to 1701" This contradicts Wikipedia; "Claude François Paparel , born in 1659 and died on 18 May 1725 in Paris . He is the son of Francois Paparel, Advisor to the King, Treasurer of the extraordinary wars"

Mouthwatering

Rockport is such a beautiful & historic place, my Wife & I were there in the fall on their harvestfest day, and spent some time sitting & sunning ourselves looking out over that bay.

Silvered copper(only traces of the silvering remain) 26-28mm. Obv. A dolphin being crowned by a hand appearing from a cloud. A DELPHINO INCOLUMITAS Rev. Figure of Peace, holding a cornucopia, and burning implements of war. EX PACE UBERTAS Exergue WOLF LAVF. (For either Wolf Laufer I (master 1554, died 1601) or Wolfgang Lauffer/Lavfer II Nuremberg, active 1618-1660) A DELPHINO INCOLUMITAS Safety to/from the Dolphin/Dauphin (EX BELLO PAX / From war, peace) EX PACE UBERTAS / From peace, plenty. Assumed by some to depict the birth of the 18th Dauphin(Louis XIII) in 1601, it might also be for the 19th(Louis XIV) 1638.

Dino-Lite digital microscope......very impressive though perhaps you should have brought the one with a built in spelling-checker, did you spot the "pure alumnium" or was that an acceptable version of aluminum/aluminium then?

Knowledge is power and you are a very knowledgeable guy, good for you.

The one from Rouen is stunning, almost as struck, great find Clive The legend is shortened from the Latin SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTUM or in English, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.

Very nice Ian, happy new year. The date is circa 476BC, I know it is just a typo. Obv. slow quadriga, horses crowned by Nike Rev. head Arethusa, 4 dolphins

Withers #15 34mm 18.7g grained edge ///// die axis 0 C #15a 34mm 19.0g grained edge ///// die axis 12 VC #15b 35mm 25.2g centre grained edge \\\\\ die axis 12 RRR S Whitchurch and W. Dore, engraver Peter Wyon Davis#74 Samuel T. Whitchurch; After voyaging around the world as a youth he joined the Royal Navy, saw active duty on Monmouth during the war of American Independence. He was in charge of signals on Grafton under captain Collingwood. On Alert he saw action against the Dutch off Dogger Bank in 1781. In 1782 he served under Collingwood again against the French in the West Indies, where he was severely wounded. Returning home to Bath he entered business as a ironmonger & brazier at number 3 Bridge Street and prospered. In 1796 he moved the business to 26 Market Place(now the High street) he died Christmas day 1817. William Dore; Was a hatter, hosier, mercer & draper of 24 Market Place & along with Whitchurch was a subscriber to the Union Bluecoat School to educate 30 boys from 7 to 14 in Christian principles. In 1809 he was one of the overseers for the parish of St. Peter & St. Paul. He sold his business in 1813 and retired to Weston near Bath where he erected a new school. Later he was a partner in the Bath City Bank(1815-22), later still the proprieter of the White Lion Hotel Market Place, Bath. In 1819 he became the High Constable of Bath.

Congratulations, nice to know its pedigree.

Received a reply back from the British Museum; "It looks to me like another engraver copying Kirk's design, ie not deceiving, just plagiarising. It certainly doesn't look later than early 19th century and could indeed be contemporary" Another possibility I can think of is perhaps an apprentice piece, "GB, have a go at copying that token of Granby by Kirk". I guess somethings are meant to remain a mystery but I will carry on checking all the sentimental tokens for 'variants'. EDIT 18.04.2014 I have since purchased another of these tokens signed GB, which is more worn, and just seen another in almost uncirculated condition which leads me to one last theory.... that these were produced for a Marquis of Granby Inn.

The year 1774 is just the second & last year that the tokens were issued as a gift with the magazine, the first tokens are dated for 1773, the only exceptions are Cromwell's dated 1658 & George II, Beckford & Duchess of Cumberland undated. Granby's token is considered to be the last token struck for the March 1774 issue of the magazine, the magazine itself was published till 1777. So the date is not significant re Granby per se. Perhaps as you suggest Bill there was a bigger demand for medals of Granby than the limited number issued with the magazine could satisfy & some enterprising fellow made some copies, not wanting to deceive he sign them GB, not KIRK FEC. Just strange in that I have kept close watch on all the sentimentals being offered for sale(ebay, dealers & auctions for 4 years) & never spotted another copy, but perhaps he only struck a few. General John Manners, Marquess of Granby PC, (Kelham, 2 January 1721 – October 18, 1770, Scarborough), British soldier, was the eldest son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland. As he did not outlive his father, he was known by his father's subsidiary title, Marquess of Granby. Minden was Granby's first great battle. At the head of the Blues he was one of the cavalry leaders halted at the critical moment by Lieutenant-General Sackville, and when in consequence that officer was sent home in disgrace, GRANBY succeeded to the command of the British contingent in Ferdinand's army, having 32,000 men under his orders at the beginning of 1760. He also replaced Sackville as Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. During Sackville's court-martial, Granby testified that Sackville had led the cavalry forward too slowly. Although he suggested Sackville had not been negligent, he could not prevent a verdict of "guilty", and Sackville was thereafter embittered against him. In the remaining campaigns of the Seven Years' War the English contingent was more conspicuous by its conduct than the Prussians themselves. On July 31, 1760 Granby brilliantly stormed Warburg at the head of the British cavalry, capturing 1500 men and ten pieces of artillery. Since his twenties, he had been almost entirely bald, but disdained to wear a wig; during the charge, he lost his hat, giving rise to the expression "going at it bald-headed". A year later (July 15, 1761) the British defended the heights of Villinghausen with what Ferdinand himself styled "indescribable bravery". On the following day, he led his troops in a counter-attack and helped drive the French from the field. His opponent, the duc de Broglie, was so impressed that he commissioned a portrait of GRANBY by Sir Joshua Reynolds. In the last campaign, at Gravenstein and Wilhelmsthal, Homberg, Gudensberg and Cassel, Granby's men bore the brunt of the fighting and earned the greatest share of the glory. Lord Ligonier praised his conduct at Wilhelmsthal, where he cut off the French rearguard as "Il a manoeuvré comme un ange … no man ever acted with more courage or more like a commanding officer." His last field action was at Brückermühl, where he brought two brigades to the relief of General Zastrow. 486. MARQUIS OF GRANBY. 1759. Bust of the Marquis of Granby, r., hair short, in armour and riband across the breast. Leg. THE BRITISH HERO . THE MARQUIS OF GRANBY. Rev. A heart, crowned, within a wreath of laurel. 1759 Medal of John Manners 1721-1770. The Marquis of Granby. Hero of the Battle of Minden Aug. 1st 1759. Brass 27mm. MI 703/436. Rare. There are many pubs still named The Marquis of Granby. They were originally named so, partly due to his personal sponsorship of his disabled non-commissioned officers as publicans and also because of his public popularity as a war hero. He was also praised, not just by the british, but his enemies too for his heroism, one went so far as to commission a portrait of him. He lost his hair whilst young, but rather than wear a wig (fashionable at that time) he was proud of his baldness and even had his portraits painted with his pate bare, as he is portrayed on this medal.

Strange that I have never seen another copy of any other of the sentimentals, in fact it is a very rare occurence to see contemporary copies of this type of medal(19th century copies/galvano/electrotypes for museums yes), whereas some conder tokens(wilkinsons) were freely copied often, as they had a cash value, as were coins of the realm.

Thanks. A real puzzle, because if it was meant to deceive why not just sign it the same as Kirk's, if it had been I probably would not have spotted it! They have never been really worth enough to fake them, except Pitt, he is worth the most because of the US interest. The one signed GB I suspect is contemporary to the original. If it is a contemporary fake I am more than happy to include it in my collection. I will send the pics to the British Museum for their comments.

The Sentimental Token of the Marquis of Granby by John Kirk is 26mm and like the other 12 Sentimental Tokens is signed Kirk Fec. The other token is signed GB below the bust & is 25mm, it is a real mystery. I have never seen another token so similar to Kik's Sentimental tokens before, or one signed by anyone but Kirk. As to who is GB I will have to work on that one. I took another picture of Kirk's one & tried to show that it is even more similar than the original pictures suggest;

Nice portrait(for Kettle) & good detail, as to Brown, I suspect he did not always know his brass from his elbow

The reverse on this appears to be the same as on your #484 Vern(which matches the drawing in Hennin), but the obverse portrait and the spacing between FR. & ET is quite different. It is not in Hennin, so I assume it is just an unlisted variant of 484, as the only other one of the SOL REGNI ABIIT not having ROI or REX after XVI on the obverse is #485 & it does not have(according to Hennin) IETTON in the exergue, unless of course it is a mule of #485 obverse(not illustrated, just "similar to previous") & #484 reverse Any thoughts?

My newest addition, the top medal, has a plain edge. It joins the other 2, middle one straight engrailed edge, lower one diagonally engrailed edge. The new one is not signed Kettle below the bust, does that ring a bell? BHM#995; Obv. Similar to No. 994. Laureate head of George III, right. GOD PROTECTS THE JUST Rev. Name of Jehovah in Hebrew above rays shining down on Imperial crown. FEAR GOD HONOUR THE KING Br. 25 by T. Kettle. RRRR. Highest rarity in BHM, It looks like they used the unsigned die from 1810 again in 1820 for the unsiged death medal. Notice the distance from the 'C' to the bust, the unsigned medals have a smaller gap. Also the latest addition is copper(can see it peeking through in places, though it appears to have been gilded, Brown only listed this in brass, the 3rd one also looks more bronze or copper than brass. It is sometimes hard to tell for sure. Obv. Laureate head of George III, right. GOD PROTECTS THE JUST Rev. Inscription within rays G III / COMPLEATED / THE 50TH YEAR / OF HIS REIGN / OCTR. 25TH / 1810. 1810 BHM#682 25mm, AE C. AE silvered C. by Kettle & Sons. Oh, and there is no such thing as "too many" where medals are concerned, especially RRRR. ones

Wow, great condition.