60 years Vicky medal Off Metal Commemorative Piece

theboz11

I have purchased some Vicky Medals and this is the second to arrive. It is 78 MM across and I think is either Cast pot metal or lead, it is a heavy piece. The area on the sideburns and neck did not flow in fully and left a crackled appearance. This also occured on the reverse fields on the right( Not evident in photo) I have no more info.

drjules

Very nice, I especially like the combination of lion and britannia

Dr J

elverno

That's a beauty. Is there an engraver's name or initials anywhere? I didn't see any but if they're in a shadow maybe I can get a line on it in Forrer. I love the lion's pose!

theboz11

I have looked all over this piece and can't find any initials or Edge markings

Steve27

That's a super piece, although Britannia could look happier.

theboz11

Would you look happy if a Lion was that close to biting your leg

theboz11

Anyone have any info on this one. I have not seen this pattern or this type of metal? used in Commems before.

cosmicdebris

Nice piece!

theboz11

Thanks Bill, I would like Askari to have a look at this piece, maybe he has some ideas on Pot-metal castings.

Askari

A pretty nice and unusual medal, Dan! I can't remember seeing one like this before. The bust is an "official" variety, but the pebbly fields I find an attractive way to highlight Vicky. The reverse design is one I've seen before but I can't recall seeing the rayed crown. I suspect that the rev. design is drawn from another British medal of the 19th century, but I'm afraid I have limited familiarity with British medals of this period. I'm surprised there is no engraver's name because this is a very high-skill piece of work.

It's unusual for such a large medal to have been made in such a base metal as pewter or lead. Lead, however, being softer, was often used for trial strikes and that may be what you have. It's even possible that this medal was never issued in this size because of the difficulties in getting the metal to flow up to fill all the higher relief -- and this medallic design combination would no doubt pose a challenge with its high-relief Vicky obv. and Britannia & Lion rev. If a strike-up test piece, that might explain the lack of engraver's mark as well, simply because it would be unnecessary at this point.

Wish I could tell you more, but we need someone more familiar with 19th century British medals to comment.

theboz11

Thanks Mark. Trial piece or Pattern would explain alot . This may have ended up as two different medals and the rays removed and Initials addaed in the final version, Not uncommon.

MacCrimmon

78mm?

Quite an exceptional piece there, Boz.

Love the "rayed" crown. That reverse pretty much incorporates all design features common to UK coinage.

Hey, I just noticed; that lion's face looks suspiciously like John Brown's!!

farthing

I like this medal more each time I open this thread!

wybrit

That is a marvelous piece. The reverse is a nice combination of many of the features that had been on the copper and bronze pieces up to 1894.