medal
- Museum number
- M.6100
- Description
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Gold medal. (whole)
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Bare head of William IV, right. (obverse)
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Diademed head of Queen Adelaide, right. (reverse)
- Production date
- 1831
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 33.000 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Brown 1980 states:
During the Homage the choir sang an anthem and the Treasurer of the Household 'threw about' the medals of the coronation. Full details of the ceremony are to be found in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1831, Vol. II, pp. 210ff.
This is the official medal struck for distribution at the Coronation ceremony. Some were sold to the public by Messrs Garrard; Messrs Rundell Bridge & Rundell; Messrs West & Co., of Dublin, and some by the Mint office. The prices charged were: £5 for the gold; 10/- silver and 5/- copper. Information concerning the numbers of medals struck appears to be conflicting and several sets of figures have been quoted. The author is indebted to Graham Dyer, Curator and Librarian of the Royal Mint, for information which he has abstracted from a Royal Mint accounts book (MINT 16/16) in the Public Record Office. The following figures appear to be the correct ones: Gold: 1203 of which 238 were subsequently melted down to leave a balance of 965. Silver: 2615 minus 715 melted leaving a balance of 1900. Bronzed copper: 1992 struck of which 76 were brockages and were presumably never issued. Mr Dyer also draws the author's attention to the fact that the Mint had 180 examples of the bronze (almost certainly including the brockages) in stock as late as 1871 but that the sales of the gold and silver had been completed by the mid 1830s.
Wyon received payment of £105 for his work on the dies.
Bibliography: Fiala, E. 'Münzen und Medaillen der Welfischen Lande', Prague, 1915, 5385, 86 & 87; Hocking, W. J. 'Catalogue of the coins, tokens, medals, dies and seals in the museum of the Royal Mint', Vol. II, London, 1910, 195/19-22.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Commemoration of: Coronation of King William IV, 1831
- Department
- Money and Medals
- Registration number
- M.6100
- C&M catalogue number
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MB3 (Brown 1) (358) (1475)