Medal
ca. 1850 (made)
| Artist/Maker |
Object Type
Five different official medals were produced in bronze for the Great Exhibition. The Council medal, Prize medal and Jurors medal were the main awards, while the Exhibitors and For Services medals were less prestigious.
This is the Exhibitors medal that was designed by William Wyon (1795-1851), Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint at the time of the Exhibition. The obverse (or front) has a portrait of Prince Albert who was President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition. The reverse has a terrestrial globe, with a dove resting on the top, and an inscription. The medal sits in a circular bronze frame bearing the words 'Honourable Mention'. There were nearly 14,000 exhibitors in the Exhibition, and each received a medal like this, along with a certificate and a copy of the reports of the juries.
People
Prince Albert was the prime mover behind the Exhibition of 1851. In 1849 he decided that the exhibition planned by the Royal Society of Arts for 1851 should be international, and much larger than its predecessors. A Royal Commission was set up to organise the event, with Prince Albert as its President. The other main organisers were Henry Cole (1808-1882), future director of the South Kensington Museum (precursor of the V&A Museum) and Charles Wentworth Dilke (1810-1869), son of the proprietor of The Athenaeum. The exhibition is remembered as one of Prince Albert's greatest achievements.
Materials & Making
The medal was struck from a die. In this method, metal blanks were placed between two hardened-steel dies which were then hit with great force. On impact, the softer bronze 'flowed' into all the hollows and spaces in the die. This technique produced finished medals in huge numbers with hardly any loss of detail or clarity. The original dies for the Great Exhibition medals came to light some years ago in the stores of the V&A and are now on display in Gallery 64.
Five different official medals were produced in bronze for the Great Exhibition. The Council medal, Prize medal and Jurors medal were the main awards, while the Exhibitors and For Services medals were less prestigious.
This is the Exhibitors medal that was designed by William Wyon (1795-1851), Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint at the time of the Exhibition. The obverse (or front) has a portrait of Prince Albert who was President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition. The reverse has a terrestrial globe, with a dove resting on the top, and an inscription. The medal sits in a circular bronze frame bearing the words 'Honourable Mention'. There were nearly 14,000 exhibitors in the Exhibition, and each received a medal like this, along with a certificate and a copy of the reports of the juries.
People
Prince Albert was the prime mover behind the Exhibition of 1851. In 1849 he decided that the exhibition planned by the Royal Society of Arts for 1851 should be international, and much larger than its predecessors. A Royal Commission was set up to organise the event, with Prince Albert as its President. The other main organisers were Henry Cole (1808-1882), future director of the South Kensington Museum (precursor of the V&A Museum) and Charles Wentworth Dilke (1810-1869), son of the proprietor of The Athenaeum. The exhibition is remembered as one of Prince Albert's greatest achievements.
Materials & Making
The medal was struck from a die. In this method, metal blanks were placed between two hardened-steel dies which were then hit with great force. On impact, the softer bronze 'flowed' into all the hollows and spaces in the die. This technique produced finished medals in huge numbers with hardly any loss of detail or clarity. The original dies for the Great Exhibition medals came to light some years ago in the stores of the V&A and are now on display in Gallery 64.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Cast bronze |
| Brief description | Bronze medal |
| Gallery label | MEDAL-WINNING SHIRT Dress shirts of this period were often enriched with fine embroidery. The official catalogue of the Exhibition described this as a shirt of peculiar construction. This may refer to the holes for the studs, a relatively new invention. The company that made this shirt was awarded a bronze medal in it's class.(27/03/2003) |
| Credit line | Given by Messrs Wheeler Ltd. |
| Object history | This bronze medal was awarded for the whitework shirt (T.47-1952). It originally came in a circular bronze frame (now NIP) bearing the words 'Honourable Mention'.Awarded at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Class XX (No. 22) |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type Five different official medals were produced in bronze for the Great Exhibition. The Council medal, Prize medal and Jurors medal were the main awards, while the Exhibitors and For Services medals were less prestigious. This is the Exhibitors medal that was designed by William Wyon (1795-1851), Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint at the time of the Exhibition. The obverse (or front) has a portrait of Prince Albert who was President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition. The reverse has a terrestrial globe, with a dove resting on the top, and an inscription. The medal sits in a circular bronze frame bearing the words 'Honourable Mention'. There were nearly 14,000 exhibitors in the Exhibition, and each received a medal like this, along with a certificate and a copy of the reports of the juries. People Prince Albert was the prime mover behind the Exhibition of 1851. In 1849 he decided that the exhibition planned by the Royal Society of Arts for 1851 should be international, and much larger than its predecessors. A Royal Commission was set up to organise the event, with Prince Albert as its President. The other main organisers were Henry Cole (1808-1882), future director of the South Kensington Museum (precursor of the V&A Museum) and Charles Wentworth Dilke (1810-1869), son of the proprietor of The Athenaeum. The exhibition is remembered as one of Prince Albert's greatest achievements. Materials & Making The medal was struck from a die. In this method, metal blanks were placed between two hardened-steel dies which were then hit with great force. On impact, the softer bronze 'flowed' into all the hollows and spaces in the die. This technique produced finished medals in huge numbers with hardly any loss of detail or clarity. The original dies for the Great Exhibition medals came to light some years ago in the stores of the V&A and are now on display in Gallery 64. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.47B-1952 |
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| Record created | May 13, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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