British Empire Exhibition London 1924 thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

British Empire Exhibition London 1924

Medal
1924 (made)
Artist/Maker
The Royal Mint (foundry)
Metcalfe, Percy (medallist)
Mackennal, Bertram (Sir) (medallist)
Place of origin
London (made)

The British Empire Exhibition opened on St George’s Day 1924 at Wembley Park in north-west London. Its aim was to promote trade within the countries of the Empire and to honour those who had served during the First World War.
This medal was the winning entry of a competition sponsored by the Goldsmith's Company for a medal commemorating the exhibition; it was used as the official award medal for exhibitors and was presented unnamed.

Object details

Categories
Coins & Medals
Sculpture
Portraits
Royalty
Object type
Medal
TitleBritish Empire Exhibition London 1924 (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Bronze
Brief description
Medal, bronze, British Empire Exhibition London 1924, obverse by Bertram Mackennal, reverse by Percy Metcalfe, England (London), 1924
Physical description
Obverse: Crowned and draped bust of George V, facing left. Inscription.
Reverse: British lion sejant left before the exhibition buildings. Inscription.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 5.1cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'GEORGIVS V BRITT: OMN: REX ET IND: IMP:' (obverse)
  • 'BRITISH EMPIRE / EXHIBITION / 1924' (reverse, exergue)
Credit line
Given by Professor and Mrs J. Hull Grundy
Object history
Given by Professor J. Hull Grundy and Mrs. Ann Hull Grundy, in 1978.

Historical significance: This medal was the winning entry of a competition sponsored by the Goldsmith's Company for a medal commemorating the exhibition; it was used as the official award medal for exhibitors and was presented unnamed. The original concept of a series of awards and competitions connected with the exhibition lay with the Royal Mint and the resultant matt finish and dark toning of this and some other medals connected with the event are due to a series of experiments that were being carried out by the Royal Mint at the time. The two engraver employed for this medal also engraved coinage dies for Great Britain and the colonies. The bust of the King used here is the same as that used on the colonial coins.
Subjects depicted
Bust
Lion
King George V
British Empire Exhibition
Summary
The British Empire Exhibition opened on St George’s Day 1924 at Wembley Park in north-west London. Its aim was to promote trade within the countries of the Empire and to honour those who had served during the First World War.
This medal was the winning entry of a competition sponsored by the Goldsmith's Company for a medal commemorating the exhibition; it was used as the official award medal for exhibitors and was presented unnamed.
Bibliographic references
  • Catalogue of the Collection of Coins, Medals, Medallions, Tokens, Dies, etc. in the Assay Office, Birmingham, cat. no. 481
  • Fearon, D., Spink's Catalogue of British Commemorative Medals 1558 to the present day, Exeter, 1984, p. 88, no. 375.2
  • Edmundson, Joseph, Collecting Modern Commemorative Medals, London, 1972, pp. 155-156
  • Brown, Lawrence. British Historical Medals 1760-1960, Vol III, The Accession of Edward VII to 1960 , London, 1995, p. 127, cat. no. 4193
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.135-1978

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Record createdMay 4, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O111668/british-empire-exhibition-london-1924-medal-metcalfe-percy/
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