Medallion
A. Backi
Category
Coins and medals
Date
Unknown
Materials
Gold
Measurements
3 mm (Height); 65 mm (Diameter)
Order this imageCollection
Chartwell, Kent
NT 1101177
Summary
Gold medallion with a portrait group of Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarina, by A. Vasyutinsky.With a border inscription, the reverse with a double-headed eagle, Lady Churchill's Russian Fund medal. It was made in 1896 on the coronation of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. Given to Clementine Churchill during the Second World War as thanks to her for having led the Aid to Russia Fund. Formerly part of the Heirloom Collection.
Full description
Clementine Churchill was chairman of the Red Cross ‘Aid to Russia’ campaign which raised about £8,000,000 and she visited Russia from March to May 1945 and met Stalin at the Kremlin. In 1945 Mrs Churchill was awarded the Russian Order of the Red Banner of Labour. The Churchill Archive contains a Letter of 5 June 1942 from Churchill to Colonel Sir Courtauld Thomson [later 1st Lord Courtauld-Thomson] declining the offer of a Gold Medal donated to the Red Cross Aid to Russia [Soviet Union] appeal (CHAR 20/53C/272) and on 17 June 1942 Churchill to Colonel Sir Courtauld Thomson advising that he will buy the Gold Medal himself from the Russian Fund (CHAR 20/53C/297). It appears that he paid £200 for it – a considerable sum.
Marks and inscriptions
border inscription
Makers and roles
A. Backi, designer