medal
- Museum number
- G3,SpMV.28
- Description
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Pewter medal. (whole)
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Bust of Charles III of Spain, right, hair very long, in armour, mantle, collar and badge of the Golden Fleece. (obverse)
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The city, harbour, and pier of Barcelona and the abandoned cannon, etc., of the besiegers: above, the sun eclipsed. (reverse)
- Production date
- 1706
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 42.000 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Medallic Illustrations 2, published in 1885, states:
Rare.
Charles was himself present in Barcelona, and being consequently in great danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, he would naturally feel grateful that Heaven had interfered and fought for him. He gave orders for a medal to be struck suitable to the occasion; one of which, set round with diamonds, he presented to Sir John Leake, the English Admiral. Whether this, or one of those mentioned hereafter, was the one presented does not appear. That an augury should be drawn from so unusual a phenomenon as an eclipse at such a moment was not surprising, and that which suggested itself to the Allies was a favourable one. "As the well-known device of Louis XIV was a sun in splendour, an eclipse, occurring on the day when his troops were actually in retreat, could portend nothing else than the annihilation of the affairs of France in the Spanish kingdom." (Wyon, ‘Hist, of Gt. Brit, during the Reign of Queen Anne’, 1876, Vol. I. p. 429.)
See Van Loon, Gerard, ‘Histoire Métallique des XVII. Provinces des Pays-Bas’, 5 vol. La Haye, 1732-1837 (fol) [There is also an edition in Dutch, but with different paging], V. 22; Thesaurus Numismatum Modernorum hujus Seculi, &c., Norinbergiæ, 578.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Commemoration of: Relief of Barcelona
- Acquisition date
- 1825
- Department
- Money and Medals
- Registration number
- G3,SpMV.28
- C&M catalogue number
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MB2 (Medallic Illustrations 2) (281) (87)