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Medal - Queen Victoria: Visit to Birmingham

Queen Victoria: Visit to Birmingham

  • Object:

    Medal

  • Place of origin:

    Great Britain (made)

  • Date:

    1858 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Moore, Joseph, born 1817 - died 1901 (medallist)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Zinc

  • Museum number:

    6043-1858

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

This medal commemorates the visit of Queen Victoria to Birmingham and is made by the medallist Jonathan Moore in 1858.

Aston Hall once belonged to the Holtes, a royalist family, and Charles I had rested there in 1642. The Corporation of Birmingham desired to buy the park and hall but the price of £ 40,000 was too large for their means. Local working men and their employers, with other wealthy assistance raised the necessary money for the purchase. The park was used for a playground and the hall for exhibition purposes.

Joseph Moore (1817-1901) was a British engraver and medallist who already at ten years of age convinced his parents to let him earn his own living and entered the office of a then well-known silversmith.

Physical description

Medal depicts on the obverse the diademed head of Queen Victoria on a medallion within a closed wreath. On the reverse there is a view of the main front of Aston Hall.

Place of Origin

Great Britain (made)

Date

1858 (made)

Artist/maker

Moore, Joseph, born 1817 - died 1901 (medallist)

Materials and Techniques

Zinc

Marks and inscriptions

'VICTORIA REGINA'
obverse, around bust

'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN'
obverse, on a ribbon dividing the field horizontally

'TO COMMEMORATE THE VISIT OF / HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY / TO BIRMINGHAM / ON THE 15th JUNE 1858.'
obverse, above ribbon

'TO OPEN ASTON HALL AND PARK / AS A PLACE OF PUBLIC RECREATION / JOHN RATCLIFF ESQ. MAYOR.'
obverse, below ribbon

'ASTON HALL, BEGAN 1618. COMPLETED 1635.'
reverse

'BOUGHT (WITH 43 ACRES / OF PARK) / BY THE / PEOPLE OF BIRMINGHAM'
reverse, in exergue

Dimensions

Diameter: 5.4 cm

Historical context note

Aston Hall once belonged to the Holtes, a royalist family, and Charles I had rested there in 1642. The Corporation of Birmingham desired to buy the park and hall but the price of £ 40,000 was too large for their means. Local working men and their employers, with other wealthy assistance raised the necessary money for the purchase. The park was used for a playground and the hall for exhibition purposes.

Descriptive line

Medal, commemorating the visit of Queen Victoria to Birmingham,by Jonathan Moore, Britain, 1858

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1858. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 17
Brown, Lawrence. British Historical Medals 1837-1901 - The Reign of Queen Victoria. London: 1987, cat.no. 2613

Materials

Zinc

Categories

Coins & Medals; Sculpture; Royalty

Collection

Sculpture Collection

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