constanius

Looks like one of Sweeney Todd's victims(he finished them off with a cut-throat razor) the obverse would look better rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise so the blood flow is on the floor. I suspect I maybe watching too many forensic dramas on TV. Great deal & still a most attractive coin with character, somethings look better with age.

But the man portrayed is Benedikt Fontana, a Swiss national hero who died at the Battle of Calven in 1499 during the Swabian war, the "Frisch avf vnd dran(daran)" are his words(though wounded) extolling his men on to victory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Calven It would be like putting William Tell or George Washington on the reverse, though like you I like the reverse

Is this guy(Stillhard) boasting or what! as the actress said to the bishop "thats what they all say". Great set of medals & beautiful photos but where are 'The ladies with big hats' Zohar? So many guns & if no guns crossbows, anyone would think these were really meant to be about shooting. hiho to the rescue, she is cute.....& not a gun or crossbow in sight.

BHM#1842 AE, WM 51mm C; AE, WM 46mm N; AE, WM 35mm N. by ? This example is WM(silvered)46mm. Obv. Diademed head of Queen Victoria left, hair in chignon: Above VICTORIA Around ASCENDED THE BRITISH THRONE JUNE 20. 1837. IN THE 19. YEAR OF HER AGE. Rev. Queen Victoria enthroned with right foot resting on the British lion; Commerce, Britannia, Justice and Plenty around. Above CORONATION In exergue: AT WESTMINSTER/JUNE 28th. 1838.

Apparently it was a great success. He was also the first monarch to pay a state visit to Ireland(1821) since Richard II of England.

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

British Historical Medals - 1134 - KING GEORGE IV: VISIT TO IRELAND Brass 25mm N. by ? I. Parkes Obv. Similar to No. 1133 Laureate head of George IV, left. GEORGIUS IV BRITANNIARUM REX F. D. Rev. Irish harp above sprays of shamrocks. Above: VISIT TO IRELAND Below: ERIN GO BRAGH / + . AUGUST 1821 + . Copying/Reducing lines clearly visible, I have seen strikes, from what appear to be the same die, after the lines have been polished out. Here is one My lhttp://maxentius.lamoneta.it/PagineMedaglie/VisitaGiorgioIVinIrlanda.htmink He was the first monarch to pay a state visit to Ireland since Richard II of England.

Wow, what a great collection Bill, my favourite one is in the first post but I like them all.

So true, they are stunning but therein lies the danger: From http://rg.ancients.info/replicas/; "The Czech replica maker Antiquanova also makes excellent ancient coin replicas, marking them unobtrusively on the reverse with an S countermark for Petr Sousek, the engraver" "Because Antiquanova replicas are easier to obtain than Slaveys, you see more copies of them, often sold as replicas by other replica makers who use them to cast other copies or sold as authentic coins by scammers who tool them to remove the countermark, create cast copies and tool the molds to remove the countermark, or create transfer dies and took the dies to remove the countermark"

I do not remember attacking Westair, so do not feel inclined to give them a break. The quote you used of mine was in regard to fantasy pattern coins. Though I did say I disliked copies because of the confusion they can cause & the potential for fraud. Well here is one buyer of a Westair copy who asked "is it a fake ?" which tends to prove my point.

Hi Drusus, nice full answer. I dislike these copies & the modern fantasy pattern coins because they can cause so much confusion & to me are a total waste of money. There is also the possibility that some unscrupulous cad will "doctor' them to make them look even more like genuine coins. Why someone would buy a newly struck fantasy piece(even if they are well struck, nice designs, perhaps from Cavendish Collectables) when for the same money you can buy a genuine coin or medal is beyond my comprehension. Many people must buy them though because they are churning them out in the thousands. I would like to find a genuine ancient roman aluminum coin!

Yes but if you had just bowed & said "please your majesty" your nation would include the lands now called Canada

Wow 2 great posts Clive your info on the workings of the mint was tremendous & I had missed the original post you included in the last one & the brooches fabulous.

This one is holed & has been over-cleaned but has great detail. Interestingly(to me at least) the edge on this one is straight engrailed, whereas the lower one is diagonally engrailed. Also the holed medal is on a slightly smaller(24mm versus 25mm) & thinner planchet than other example.

I have mused if you American Colonists had not been so revolutionary minded & had stayed loyal to the Crown(like Australia, Canada & New Zealand) whether the slavery problem could have been solved, without violence, whilst still under British rule & law, before you attained your independence, thus sparing you the horrors of both the Revolutionary War & your Civil War. It seems to me that you won your independence before you were a fully united country, the North/South split coming back to haunt you later. Australia, Canada & New Zealand are all now fully independent countries, still by their choice within the Commonwealth, without having to go to war with Britain & perhaps because their sense of nationhood had matured & developed gradually, while under British rule, they all avoided major internal strife when they became independent.

Brown himself does not give numbers, but we know that only 10 of BHM#4450 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 57mm in gold were struck & he only gives that a rarity of RRR. So most people assume under 10 for RRRR. Now we should not necessarily extrapolate that one instance for all the listed medals in BHM, but it is one example where we do have the actual number struck to compare to his rarity rating. We should expect that with medals over 200 years old there could be quite a few lost in attics, old desks etc so there is always the possibility that some more might turn up. Brown: "No attempt has been made to relate numbers struck with the degree of rarity unless this is definitely known. Generallly speaking this is not available and the rarity has been computed from the quantity that the author has seen during the 29 years that the catalogue took to compile. In addition, some 35 years experience in handling commemorative medals has been drawn upon, a record having been kept of the examples that have been seen" A couple of years ago a seller on eBay listed as a buy it now "Princess Charlotte 1/10 Decem" he was selling them one at a time(at a really low price), he had 10 available, he had found the box of ten in a house clearance & wrongly assumed they were "a dime a dozen". So if it had been listed in BHM(It is not) & previously rated RRRR. the discovery would in effect have altered that to RRR. So you can see we need a certain amount of caution when dealing with older medals.

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, in an unusually nice condition. Below is a previously posted medal, which uses the reverse of the above medal for its obverse. George III Death Medal 1820. Obv. Name of Jehovah in Hebrew above rays shining down on Imperial crown.FEAR GOD, HONOUR THE KING. Rev. THE LORD'S PRAYER. BHM# 996 RRRR. (Highest rarity in BHM) Br. 25mm by Kettle.

Wow!

Thank you hiho & Clive, it is always very nice to receive compliments

I found a conflicting date re the royal charter in 'The King's artists: the Royal Academy of Arts and the politics of British Culture, 1760-1840' by Holger Hoock 2005, Page 103 footnote 107 "The Liverpool Academy from c.1820 was the exception among provincial academies in being closely related to an institution with a royal charter, the Liverpool Royal Institution(charter 1817). Cf. Omerod, Liverpool Royal Institution" Seeing as this date(1817) for the granting of the charter has a reference (the previous date 1821 I posted was from Wikipedia) I lean towards 1817. It is still possible that the Prince regent had allowed them to use 'Royal' from the opening in November 1817 but he did not actually grant a royal charter until after he became king. Seeing that they would need a prize medal soon after the opening in 1817 I think we would be safe in using that date for the medal. The royal charter was only required to grant degrees, so perhaps could have been granted up to 4 years later. Curiously Forrer attributes the Liverpool Royal Institution; Prize medal 1814; Rev. Wreath; signed P.WYON S.C. to Peter Wyon. Maybe he misread the T for P? because Forrer also attributes, Liverpool Royal Institution, founded 1814 to Thomas Wyon senior, signed T.Wyon! Christopher Eimer attributes it to Thomas Wyon Jr., if he is correct it must be 1817(the year he died), seems unlikely to be him though as he signed T. Wyon Jun. I assume you know that it is the Liver bird on the helmet.

Hi Lisa & welcome. It is a prize medal, it is a coincidence that the Liverpool Royal Institution was established in 1814 the same year as Napoleon's first defeat & exile to Elba. It did not in fact open that year & the formal opening only took place 25 November 1817. The "Royal" was not officially added till 1821 when a royal charter was granted, this prize medal by T. Wyon was engraved later than 1814 but dated 1814 for the establishment. The medal was awarded to students of science & the literature and arts programmes. The same design & date was used over many years, albeit with slight changes as new dies had to be made as the old dies became worn. Yours is the early type Davis & Waters 337 (crest on helmet) They are made in silver, bronze & white metal. This site has 3 of these medals, scroll just over halfway down http://www.simmonsgallery.co.uk/2001site/m...cal-medals4.htm The Liverpool Royal Institution was formally dissolved in 1948.

This variety of the medal pictured below has the date of JUNE 4, instead of 7 & is missing the stop after JUNE. It is only listed In BHM Vol. 3., in the corrections & additions for Vol 1 & 2 & therefore no rarity is given, as Brown had never seen one, Brown explains he has been informed of the WM variant example, which was in a private collection, it was pierced & suspended from a red ribbon, the ribbon possibly not contemporary. So obviously this is an extremely rare find as the more common one, dated 7 is listed as R. for rare, this should probably be RRRR. The condition is a nice bonus. June the 4th was when the Lords passed the act, the 7th when it received the Royal assent & passed into law. Brown does not mention the missing foliage on the reverse. Obv. GREY RUSSEL & BROUGHAM THE FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE. Rev. THE GREAT/REFORM BILL/ THE BULWARK OF/ FREEDOM/ PASSED INTO A/ LAW JUNE.7/ 1832. Brass 25mm. Rare. BHM#1616

Very nice presentation of a beautiful coin Clive.

This is my second example of this very rare 1814 jeton, though it is holed & dirty, it is still in a very nice condition. Obv: FRANZ. I. KAISER VON. OESTERRICH Rev: NEUE EHRE NEUES GLUCK. (New Hope New Luck). Exe: IETTON. Brass 24mm. This was my first one for comparison.

Obv: Cornucopia and olive branch, 1801 below, above THE DESIRE OF THE PEOPLE Rev: Dove of peace flying left dividing PEACE / AND GOOD WILL / TO ALL MEN BHM #522 - 1801 17mm by Kettle, only listed in brass C. unlisted in bronze, or silvered bronze which this example is, which makes it a somewhat rarer.