Presentation box originally containing five medals struck for the Great Exhibition of 1851, inscribed to the Department of Practical Art, red morocco with metal clasps, Clerkenwell, 1851

Wooden box finely bound in the form of a book, originally containing five medals. The box is bound in red morocco (goat leather) with two decorative metal hinges and clasps. The title is stamped in gold on the lid and spine, and stamped blind on the base. The lid is decorated with a gold-blocking design incorporating the initials V and A topped by a crown; also stamped blind on the base. The turn-ins are decorated with a gold border design.

The inside of the lid is padded and covered in royal blue moiré (watered silk). It is printed with an inscription in gold and a design incorporating the letters V and A within leafy branches under a dove with outstretched wings. The inside base of the box has a dark blue velvet covered insert with circular compartments for five medals; each are labelled on the velvet above them with the medal's title: 'Council', 'Exhibitors', 'Service', 'Jurors' and 'Prize'. Blue fabric ribbons for medal removal are still attached to some of the compartment bases.

This case was designed to house a presentation set of the five official medals created by the Royal Commission for the Great Exhibition of 1851, a group charged by Queen Victoria with organising and administering the event under the presidency of Prince Albert. He appears on the obverse (front) of the medals in two designs (both executed by William Wyon RA, Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint) as either a solo bust or conjoined with Queen Victoria.

The medals were awarded by the Royal Commissioners on behalf of the Queen and were intended to confer status and prestige on the exhibition and its awards. They were struck in bronze because it was considered by the Commissioners to be ‘better suited than any other for the development of superior skill and ingenuity in the medallic arts’. This neatly reflected the Great Exhibition’s mission of promoting British industry and trade through encouraging excellence in British design and manufacturing, and developing public taste.

The five official medals this box contained (now stored separately for conservation purposes) are of varying size and design: The Council, Prize, Jurors’, Exhibitors, and Service Medal. The Council Medals followed by Prize Medals were the largest and most prestigious; they were prize awards for selected exhibits displayed in the ‘Crystal Palace’ in Hyde Park. To distinguish it from the Prize Medal, the Council Medal was awarded for 'some important novelty of innovation or application, either in material, or process of manufacture, or originality combined with great beauty of design; but that it should not be conferred for excellence of production or workmanship alone’. All exhibitors who were not awarded either of the two were presented with the smaller Exhibitors’ Medal as a memorial to their contribution. An international competition was held by the Royal Society of Arts (the organisation which oversaw the embryonic stages of the Great Exhibition) in 1850 to select the designs for the reverses of what became later the Jurors, Prize and Council medals. The Exhibitors Medal and the Services Medal are the two smallest and conceived later than the others.

The medals were awarded alongside a certificate stating the type of award, illustrated with detailed actual-size engravings of the medal design and a striking design by William Dyce. They also received and a small copy of the extensive Juries’ reports on the exhibits. Manufacturers and Artisans valued the medals for their prestige and for advertising purposes, and they were inscribed around the edge with the name and class number of the exhibitor.

The additional medals commissioned for the Presentation Sets are differentiated by the inscription around the outside, which includes the name of the recipient (individual or company), and the word ‘PRESENTATION’ clearly stated. The boxed sets were elaborately bound and gilded in the form of a book, and presented to the government or ruler of every country to take part in the ‘Great Exhibition of the Works of All Nations’, and to the members of the Royal Commission themselves. They were also presented to a number of other senior officials involved in organising the Great Exhibition.

During a meeting of the Royal Commissioners on 13 October 1851 ‘It was resolved that complete sets of the Medals and of the Photographs should be furnished to the different members of the Commission, the Executive Committee, and the Finance Committee, and to the Special Commissions, the Secretaries, the Treasurers of the Commission’. Specimens of the official medals were made up into Presentation sets and bound in red morocco-bound wooden boxes, with gilt stamped lettering and decoration to match the bound copies of the Exhibition Catalogues and photographic illustrations, and copies of the Juries reports.

Barnby is recorded as the maker of this case by his name and address stamped on the inside of the lid. Robert Barnby is recorded as a mathematical instrument maker who built himself a workshop in the garden of no. 35 Wilmington square, Clerkenwell. The velvet lined medal case with shaped velvet apertures fitting the medals precisely is certainly redolent of bespoke cases made to protect precious scientific instruments.

A number of these 5 medal presentation box sets were made, and most of them were given alongside sets of official printed volumes produced for the Great Exhibition, all ordered by the Commissioners to act as commemorative gifts. They included bound copies of the ‘Supplement to the first report of the Commissioners: containing engravings of the medals and certificates. .’, the ‘Illustrated Catalogue.. ’ in several volumes, ‘Reports of the Juries.. ’, and the Commissioners Reports. The volumes and medal sets alike were expensively bound in the same distinctive design of red morocco (goatskin), with stamped gilt lettering and decoration, and royal blue moiré silk doublures and endpapers.

The medals which were housed in this case are inscribed around the rim to the School of Design and the case is inscribed in gilt lettering to the Department of Practical Art. This was a government body set up as a direct result of the Great Exhibition. Henry Cole, Prince Albert’s Chief advisor for the Great Exhibition of 1851, became the first General Superintendent of the Department of Practical Art. It was responsible for Art education in Britain and set up the Museum of Ornamental Art in 1852, the precursor of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This elaborately bound box in the shape of a book originally housed a presentation set of the five official medals designed for the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was presented by The Royal Commissioners to the Department of Practical Art, as indicated in gilt lettering inside the lid. The five medals it contained are inscribed around the edge to the School of Design. They were presented on behalf of Queen Victoria by the Royal Commission, which was presided over by Prince Albert.

The Department of Practical Art was a government body set up as a direct result of the Great Exhibition. Henry Cole, Prince Albert’s Chief advisor for the Great Exhibition of 1851, became the first General Superintendent of the Department of Practical Art. It was responsible for Art education in Britain and set up the Museum of Ornamental Art in 1852, a precursor of the Victoria and Albert Museum. A number of these handsome boxes with distinctive red binding and gilt decoration were commissioned to hold the presentation sets of the official Medals. They were given to members of the Royal Commission themselves, foreign Governments and rulers, and others. The School of Design was one of the only Institutions listed to directly receive a Bound Presentation Set of medals and the illustrated catalogue volumes from the Great Exhibition from the Commissioners, alongside the British Museum and the Society of Arts.

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