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LOT 2697
Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
British Medallions - 'Billy and Charlie' - Lead Heraldic Fantasy Medallion 19th century A.D.
Obv: facing bearded head with gibberish legend. Rev: heraldic arms quartered with four annulets, a sword, three chevrons and diagonally striped. 10.15 grams, 26mm.
Very fine. This type and module not listed by Mernick; rare.
PROVENANCE:
Acquired M J Bowman Auctions, lot 81.
Property of a Kent gentleman.
FOOTNOTES:
William Smith and Charles Eaton created fantasy antiquities supposedly found in the river Thames silts, especially during the construction of the new docks at Shadwell. Using chalk moulds the cast a wide variety of medallions, pendants and other objects in a lead alloy or lateen (a crude brass alloy) which were treated with chemicals to give them a realistic patination. They typically depict bearded heads or armoured figures in combination with unintelligible inscriptions using letters of a characteristic form. When they first started to appear, they were widely accepted as genuine and it took some while before they were finally condemned as fantasises.
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