Details
LOT 2697
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. Very fine. This type and module not listed by Mernick; rare.(10.15 grams, 26mm.).
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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LOT 2697
British Medallions - 'Billy and Charlie' - Lead Heraldic Fantasy Medallion
Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
RELATED LOTS
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British Commemorative Medals - Elizabeth II - Commemorative Medal Obverse Die 1953 A.D. or later
Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Steel obverse medal die (incuse and reversed). Obv: profile bust with ELIZABETH II legend and stars. 255 grams, medal 28mm diameter.
Extremely fine.
Property of R W M collector.
No commemorative medal from this die has been traced so there is no information as to the event being celebrated although the youthful portrait suggests that the 1953 coronation is perhaps likely; it may be a pattern type that was not issued. -
British Medallions - 'Billy and Charlie' - Lead Heraldic Fantasy Medallion 19th century A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
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.
Acquired M J Bowman Auctions, lot 81. Property of a Kent gentleman.
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. -
![British Commemorative Medals - Elizabeth II - 1953 - Coronation Medal Hub and Die Pair [2]](https://timelineauctions.com/upload/images/items/small/193457s(1).jpg)
British Commemorative Medals - Elizabeth II - 1953 - Coronation Medal Hub and Die Pair [2] 1953 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Steel master hub and die pair for coronation medal obverse. Obv: proud and incuse three-quarter facing bust; the hub with incuse punched number S2 to base and the die with same number to side. 782 grams total, medal face 38 mm.
Extremely fine. Very rare.
Property of R W M collector.
This matching pair of steel master bust hub and incuse die (before the addition of a legend) would have been used for the making of medals to celebrate the coronation.
