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GREAT EXHIBITION PRIZE MEDAL
WYON, William & Leonard Charles: England, 1851,
Bronze, 76 mm
Obv: Conjoined busts of Victoria and Albert. VICTORIA D:G: BRIT: REG. F:D:
ALBERTUS PRINCEPS CONJUX (Victoria by the Grace of God, Queen of the
Britains, Defender of the Faith, Prince Albert, Her Husband). Below:
MDCCCLI
Rev: Britannia, seated, crowning Industry with laurel; Europe, Asia, Africa
and America, attending. DISSOCIATA LOCIS CONCORDI PACE LIGAVIT (It Has Bound
Together in Peace and Friendship Things Widely Separated).
Exergue: LEONARD. C:WYON. DRS: & SC: ROYAL MINT. LONDON.
Signed: W. WYON/ LEONARD C. WYON
Inscription on edge: PRIZE MEDAL OF THE EXHIBITION. COOKES & SONS, OF
WARWICK. CLASS XXVI.
Ref: BHM ii,170/2462; Eimer 173/1457
This is the Prize medal of the Great Exhibition held in
Hyde Park in 1851. It was awarded for excellence of production. The
recipient's name is inscribed on the edge in capital letters. The exhibition
was originally conceived as one of a series of triennial exhibitions of the
works of British Industry under the auspices of the Royal Society of Arts.
It was initiated by Henry Cole, who saw the need to impress upon British
manufactures the threat posed by foreign competition following the success
of the Paris Exposition in 1849.
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