medal

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Object Type
Museum number: 1893,1006.1
Description: Struck bronze medal. (whole); Portraits of the French and British astronomers Jules Janssen and Norman Lockyer, heads, bearded, in profile to right, parallel and slightly suprimposed; two crossed laurel branches beneath; beaded border. (obverse); Apollo, rays surrounding his head, naked apart from sandals and his cloak billowing behind him, rides in a quadriga, the four horses rearing on clouds, and raises his right arm, pointing to the flaming sun eclipsed by the moon; in the background, two signs of the Zodiac, Virgo and Leo, and stars; beaded border. (reverse)
Producer name: Designed by: Alphée Dubois; Die Engraved or Modelled for Reducing Machine: Alphée Dubois; Made by: Monnaie de Paris
Production date: 1872
Production place: Made in: Paris (France)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Diameter: 69 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: In 1868, Janssen and Lockyer independently, in India and in England respectively, had papers presented at the French Academy of Sciences on the same day, concerning their dicoveries of a method of observation of solar prominences in the absence of an eclipse, and the Academy commissioned a struck medal in 1872 to commemorate their joint discovery. See R. K. Kochhar, "French astronomers in India during the 17th - 19th centuries", 'Journal of the British Astronomical Association', 1991, vol.101, no.2, pp.95-100. For another struck version of the medal, see 1906,1103.539; and for a restrike, slightly smaller (by 1 mm) version with a different edge and finish, and a slight variation in design (one star in a different position), see 1931,0507.83; for a large, cast, uniface, version of the obverse, see M.6960. A ticket accompanying medal 1906,1103.539 is inscribed, possibly by Parkes Weber, with the following information: 'This medal was ordered / by the French "Académie", / interrupted by the Franco-German / War. Mr: Dubois came over / to England to take Lockyer's / portrait. / [bt] Dubois of Paris 1892 / A-5' and "England 1868 / The French astronomer / Janssen & Prof. Norm: Lockyer / on their simultaneous papers / on nature of solar protuberances. / AE 2.85 struck, mechanical / version of large cast (q.v) / medallions by Alphée Dubois".
Bibliographic references: Catalogue Général 2 / De la 1ère à la 3e République (p.212, D) (titled 'Analyse des Protubérances solaires. Découverte de l'Atmosphère du Soleil'); Mazerolle 1906 / Alphée Dubois (1831-1905) Biographie et Catalogue de son Oeuvre (21; PL.I, fig.21) (verso only illustrated)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: scientist; classical deity; charioteer/chariot; sun/moon; astronomy; zodiac
Associated names: Named in inscription & portrayed: Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer; Named in inscription & portrayed: Pierre Jules César Janssen
Associated events: Commemoration of: Discovery of method of observing solar prominences in the absence of an eclipse (1868); Commemoration of: Solar eclipse (18 August 1868)
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1893
Department: Coins and Medals
Registration number: 1893,1006.1

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