Medal commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, RA (Vienna 1834 - London 1890)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1887
Materials
Silver
Measurements
773 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773337
Summary
Silver, medal commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), designed by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-90) and Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-96), issued by the Royal Mint, London, United Kingdom, 1887. A silver medal designed by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm and Frederic, Lord Leighton, and issued by the Royal Mint as the official medal to commemorate the Golden Jubilee in 1887 of the reign of Queen Victoria. The dies were made at the Mint by the medallist Leonard Charles Wyon (1826-92). The obverse, designed by Boehm, depicts a profile portrait of the Queen, crowned and with a veil over her head, facing left, and the Latin legend ‘Victoria, Queen and Empress’. The reverse, designed by Lord Leighton, shows an enthroned figure symbolising the British Empire, holding a sword and a globe surmounted by a winged figure, flanked by standing female figures representing Science, Letters and Art on the left, and Industry and Agriculture on the right. At the feet of the throne are the reclining figures of Mercury symbolising Commerce and the Genius of Electricity and Steam. Above Victoria’s head, winged cherubs with shields holding wreaths containing the royal monogram. Within the exergue are five linked shields labelled for the five Continents over which Victoria’s empire extended. The medal is within its original red leather box, decorated on the cover with the Royal coat-of-arms, and also retains its printed card, explaining the iconography of the reverse.
Full description
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 June 1887, fifty years to the day since the Queen’s accession to the throne on 20 June 1837. Festivities took place throughout the country and included local fêtes, a yacht race, bonfires, military reviews and a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, which was attended by the Queen. This is the official Jubilee medal and is one of two commemorative medals for the event, in the design of which the successful sculptor Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm was involved. The first was intended for private circulation and was struck for the Queen. As it was intended to be worn, it was considerably smaller than the official Jubilee Commemorative Medal. Both use for the obverse a portrait of Queen Victoria developed from the one Boehm had made for a new issue of the coinage intended for the Jubilee year. With little experience in the design of images for small and restricted surfaces, Boehm’s coin designs had been heavily criticised and were deeply unpopular with the public. His design for the medal, the larger format of which gave him greater space, was an improvement on the effigy for the coinage, although inferior to other medal designs for the Golden Jubilee by Anton Scharff and Alfred Gilbert. The highly allegorical reverse was designed by another novice in the art of the medal, Frederic, Lord Leighton, and is his only medal design. Leighton’s final preparatory drawing is in the Victoria & Albert Museum. When Leighton exhibited the design for the medal at the Royal Academy in 1887 (no. 1829), he attached an elaborate description. This was reproduced on a printed card supplied with the medal and helps explain the complex allegory of the reverse, which celebrates the British Empire under Victoria’s reign: ‘In the centre a figure representing the British Empire sits enthroned with the sea in the background, resting one hand on the sword of Justice, and holding in the other the symbol of victorious rule. A lion is seen on each side of the throne. At the feet of the seated figure lies Mercury, the God of Commerce, the mainstay of our imperial strength, holding up in one hand a cup heaped with gold. Opposite to him sits the Genius of Electricity and Steam. Below again, five shields banded together bear the names of the five parts of the globe, Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australasia, over which the Empire extends. On each side of the figure of Empire stand the personified elements of its greatness, on the right (of the spectator) Industry and Agriculture; on the left Science, Letters and Art. Above, the occasion of the celebration commemorated is expressed by two winged figures representing the year 1887 (the advancing figure) and the year 1837 (with averted head), holding each a wreath. Where these wreaths interlock the letters V.R.I. appear, and over all the words “In Commemoration.”’ The design and production process for the medal was fraught, with the time allowed insufficient and matters made worse by Leighton’s late delivery of his design for the reverse. In the event, it was not issued until 18 July 1887, nearly a month after Jubilee day. Gold and silver examples were struck at the Royal Mint and bronze at Messrs. Ralph Heaton of Birmingham, production continuing until 26 February 1889. 944 examples were struck in gold, priced at £13. 13s. 0d.; 2289 in silver, costing £2 2s. 0d.; and 4257 in bronze at a price of 10/6d. These numbers suggest that the issue was, in the end, rather popular with the public. 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: VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX Obverse, on truncation: J.E.B. Reverse, legend: IN. COMMEMORATION Reverse, in shield held by cherubs: MDCCCXXXVII and MDCCLXXXVII Reverse, in wreath held by cherubs: V. R. I. Reverse, exergue, in shields : ASIA AMERICA EUROPE AUSTRALASIA AFRICA
Makers and roles
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, RA (Vienna 1834 - London 1890), sculptor Sir Frederic Leighton, Lord Leighton PRA (Scarborough 1830 – Kensington 1896), artist Leonard Charles Wyon (1826 - 1892), medallist The Royal Mint, minter
References
Wollaston 1978: Henry Wollaston, The Commemorative Collectors Guide to British Official Medals for Coronations and Jubilees, Nottingham 1978, pp. 87-89, no. 39. Stocker 1984: Mark Stocker, ‘Edgar Boehm and the Jubilee Medals of 1887’, The Medal, 5 (1984), pp. 25-29. Brown 1987: Laurence Brown, British Historical Medals 1837-1901. The Reign of Queen Victoria, London 1987, p. 361, no. 3219. Stocker 1988: Mark Stocker, Royalist and Realist: The Life and Work of Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, Michigan 1988, pp. 272-79, figs. 294-95. Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 228, no. 1733, Pls. 191-92. Whittlestone and Ewing 2013: Andrew Whittlestone and Michael Ewing, Royal Commemorative Medals 1837-1977. Vol. 2, Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee 1887, Llanfyllin 2013, p. 8, no. 2000.