Coronation medal of King George V and Queen Mary
Sir Edgar Bertram MacKennal (Melbourne 1863 - 1931)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1911
Materials
Gold
Measurements
51 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773325
Summary
Gold, Coronation medal of King George V (1865-1936) and Queen Mary (1867-1953), by Sir Bertram Mackennal (1863-1931), struck London, United Kingdom, 1911. A gold medal designed by Sir Bertram Mackennal, the official medal issued by the Royal Mint to commemorate the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, held on 22 June 1911. The obverse shows George V in profile facing left, crowned and with the orb before him, wearing Coronation robes, the collar of the Garter and the Sovereign’s Badge of the Order of the Bath. A bound laurel branch lying along the bottom edge. The reverse depicts Queen Mary in profile facing left, crowned, along the lower edge a ribbon and roses.
Full description
The Coronation of King George V and his consort Queen Mary took place in Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911. The ceremony was by all accounts one of great magnificence, the crowning taking place before some 7,000 spectators. Celebrations also took place in many other towns and cities throughout Britain. This medal was the official medal for the Coronation produced by the Royal Mint. A highly successful issue, the medal continued to be minted into 1912. It was issued in two sizes, 30 mm. in gold and silver, and 55 mm. in gold, silver and bronze. In the larger medal, the design is in higher relief. A total of 225 of the large medals in gold were minted and sold at a price of £13 13s. 0d. The designer of the medal was the Australian-born sculptor Sir Bertram Mackennal, who spent much of his career in Europe, with spells in London and Paris in the 1880s and 1990s, before he settled permanently in Britain in 1902. Mackennal is best-known for the definitive images he made of King George V in his designs for the coinage, medals and postage stamps. The monarch specifically requested that Mackennal be chosen for the task, the two men developing a good personal relationship which lasted for two decades, until the sculptor’s death in 1931. On 5 August 1910 George V wrote in his diary ‘I gave a sitting to Mr Mackennal (a very clever Australian sculptor) who is doing my head for the new coinage and medals.’ Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Given to the National Trust in 1993 by George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998).
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, legend: GEORGE V CROWNED JUNE 22 1911 Obverse, left, below orb: B.M. Reverse, legend: QUEEN MARY JUNE 22 1911 Reverse, bottom edge: B.M.
Makers and roles
Sir Edgar Bertram MacKennal (Melbourne 1863 - 1931), sculptor
References
Wollaston 1978: Henry Wollaston, The Commemorative Collectors Guide to British Official Medals for Coronations and Jubilees, Nottingham 1978, pp. 13-14, no. 19. Brown 1995: Laurence Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960. Volume III. The Accession of Edward VII to 1960, London 1995, pp. 60-61, no. 4022. Deborah Edwards, ed., Bertram Mackennal, Sydney 2007, pp. 157-58. Mitchiner 1988-2007: Michael Mitchiner, Jetons, Medalets and Tokens, 4 vols., London 1988-2007, vol. IV (British Isles from circa 1830), 2007, p.2677, no. 126.9 (8839). Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 252, no. 1922, Pl. 214. Whittlestone and Ewing 2012: Andrew Whittlestone and Michael Ewing, Royal Commemorative Medals 1837-1977. Vol. 5, King George the Fifth 1910-1936, Llanfyllin 2012, p. 11, no. 5035.