Tag Archives: medallion

Festival of Britain Medallion 1951

Festival of Britain Medallion 1951 – Yes – it is Soap!

The word medallion is used in several contexts, including architecture and food, so trying to define it can be confusing. Generally, in numismatic terms, it is a large piece of metal used to commemorate something. However, does it have to be metal? I have a glass medallion from Pilkington’s Glass. It is 65mm in diameter and commemorates the Royal Visit of 1961 and the information in the box lid refers to it as a “glass medal”. Without that description I would have thought it was a paperweight or a coaster. But if they say it is a medal, that’s good enough for me.

Another unusual material used to make medallions is soap. This, again, is made more complicated by the tendency to use the term medallion as a description far a small decorative soap. However, I have seen at least four things which I consider to be medallions made from soap – two George VI Coronation medallions, a Preston Guild set of three soaps (I was the underbidder on that) and the one illustrated here – the Festival of Britain. I know that a bust of George VI was made in soap and that there was another soap made in 1951. However, that was described and marketed as soap and was uniface, with the Festival logo on one side.

The medallion pictured here is 67mm in diameter. It was probably ivory-coloured when it was produced but has grown darker over the years, particularly the obverse. The reverse, I think, was protected from the air by resting on the bottom of the box but the obverse has darkened due to contact with the air.

The obverse has the familiar 1951 Festival of Britain logo on it, and the reverse has a design featuring the Great Exhibition of 1851, and even has details of clouds in the sky.

My mother bought this when she went to the Festival with her sister in 1951, and my sister still has it. I first saw it in the 1960s, and remember that it was still heavily scented. My example came from an antique fair about thirty years ago and even now retains traces of the original scent.

I have seen the soap medallions in both red or blue boxes. The inside of the lid says “Made in England/by/RICHARD WHEEN & SONS LTD/London SE8/Makers of fine soaps/since 1769” They are signed “WHEEN LONDON” below the logo.

This was first published on the Facebook page of the Numismatic Society of Nottinghamshire 01.01.25. As such I tend to limit he length and, with writing one every week, don’t have time to spend on editing, which is why it may be a little rough around the edges.

Julia’s New Hobby – Possibly

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Owl carving – Sherwood Forest

Got up at 7am. It’s not a big deal, I sometimes get up earlier. Old habits and insomnia both die hard. What was a big deal is that now I’m retired I usually leave my waking time to chance. Today was a day for setting the alarm. I made breakfast, of fruit and cereal and then, to be on the safe side made a breakfast cob using black pudding and bacon. It’s a bit like asking Dr Jekyll Chef Hyde to make breakfast – the two sides of healthy.

Julia, in case you are wondering where my soulmate and partner in crime is in all this, got herself dressed for a hard morning’s wood turning before eating both breakfasts. When you aren’t sure what the day is going to bring, it is best to be prepared.

I dropped her off at Railworld a little before 8.30. I don’t really understand it, it’s part railway museum and part wildlife haven, and to get to it you drive through what used to be the fairground/car park and underneath the railway arches. In all the time I lived in Peterborough previously (about 15 years) I only remember going through the arches once or twice. In those days all that was there was additional parking and wasteland. Today, as I left, a kite wheeled over the haven. This is twice I’ve seen kites over the city and I’ve only been there half a dozen times during daylight.

Sherwood Forest – carving

I expect she will come back either enthusiastic for more woodturning or despondent over some aspect of it. She doesn’t tend to do middle ground.

Meanwhile, I had a rather crowded and fume-filled journey home. It’s a small city, and the traffic is not heavy. It’s just that at 8.30 my route home is a bit of a nightmare. I could possibly make it quicker by finding a way round, but I’m still a bit shaky at navigating round Peterborough because many of the roads didn’t exist when I last lived here. There is plenty of margin for me to get lost.

The post arrived, bringing a cheap medallion with it. It’s an aluminium medallion depicting a smelting plant in Bahrain. Aluminium is a fascinating and widely used metal. It’s only about 150 years ago it was considered to be more exclusive than gold. Now we use it for wrapping food and making window frames. I have about fifteen aluminium medallions depicting aspects of the aluminium industry in my collection. I have a list of others I am looking for, and a handful of aluminium coins and medallions as examples of what has made from aluminium over the years. One day I will do a presentation on aluminium for the Numismatic Society.

But for today I must write a couple of paragraphs for a friend who is writing a book on Nottinghamshire Numismatics, send something off for the society Facebook page and then, probably, get to work on my next presentation – The Dark Side of the Medal – which is due in may next year. May is not a long way off as I need to test it in April to avoid a repetition of the debacle last time I did a talk.

Acorn Sculpture – Sherwood Forest

Meanwhile, I’m working on a scheme regarding a soundtrack, dry ice and (possibly) a cape.

“A Vexatious Anachronism”

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Reprinted from the Numismatic Society of Nottinghamshire Facebook page. 12 April 2025

Gainsborough Toll Bridge – “A Vexatious Anachronism”

The top picture shows the opening of Gainsborough Bridge in its new existence as a free bridge. The grinning bloke on the left, with cap and satchel, is now out of a job.

This 38mm white metal medallion commemorates the freeing of Gainsborough Bridge from tolls in 1932. Tolls were, and still are, a contentious subject for road users. In 1930 there were 88 Toll Bridges (24 being on A Roads) and 55 Toll Bars in England. The newspaper article which provided this information also provided the title, as the reporter was clearly not in favour of tolls. One example he gave was a man who paid £30 a year in tolls – twice the cost of his car tax. Apart from the cost, people also objected to the delays and congestion, and the effect some tolls had on the education of children from poor families, who had to pay pedestrian tolls to go to school.. Today we have around 23 toll roads and bridges in the UK, some being used to finance major new projects and some being Victorian survivals.

The M6 Toll motorway, in case you are interested, has 2.5 million pulped Mills & Boon novels incorporated into the tarmac. This helps with reducing wear and absorbing sound. The books were not chosen with any idea of literary criticism in mind – it’s just that they are printed in such great quantities that there is a large supply of returned and damaged books.

The purchase of Gainsborough Bridge from the company that operated it took many years. There were numerous discussions and false starts noted from at least 1882 until 1912, when a price of £35,000 was offered. It was a good business and the owners were not keen on selling. They had the only bridge between Dunham (which is still a toll bridge today) and the Humber and it was protected by the Gainsborough Bridge Act ,which prevented rival bridges and ferry services.

On the other hand, local tradesmen wanted to free the bridge from tolls as they could see great benefits from unrestricted access.

In 1923 the councils of Nottinghamshire, Lindsey (one of the ancient divisions of Lincolnshire) and Gainsborough, agreed to seek a grant from the Ministry of Transport (using new legislation passed to encourage this sort of scheme) and have a price set by arbitration. Profits from tolls were over £7,000 in that year, and rising steadily. A new bridge, outside the area of monopoly would have cost about £80,000 but Nottinghamshire County Council would not fund the extra road building to connect the bridge to the existing roads. A tunnel was also suggested, but was too expensive.

The bridge was eventually purchased on 31 October 1927, as noted on the medallion, for £130,000 (half of which was paid by the Government). The councils provided the other half of the cost. Pedestrians and cyclists were freed from all tolls and other users continued paying at a reduced rate, with the intention of raising a quarter of the purchase price by continuing tolls for up to seven years.

Eventually, having raised the required money, the joint committee declared the bridge to be free from tolls. The last man to pay a toll was P. J. Pybus, Minister of Transport, who paid his toll with a coin of George III in recognition of the age of the bridge – opened in 1771, and retained his ticket as a souvenir, before declaring the bridge open. Below is a picture of the last toll being paid.

Our Speaker for Tonight . . .

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It is done. It could have been done better, but it could also have been a lot worse. Learning from last time, I spoke louder, looked directly at the various grumbling miscreants on the back row and projected an air of confidence.

Even half an hour before I started, this was not the impression you would have received if you had been watching me. I only finished fifteen minutes before I was due to leave home. It had gone OK, but I had decided that I needed a few extra slides to ensure I hit my target of 40-45 minutes. These always take more time than you think, even if you are doing simple slides (two photos and a title). That meant I didn’t start to download the presentation to memory stick until the time I had set aside for changing clothes. and combing my hair.

The first memory stick didn’t have enough room for the presentation. The second was faulty, but, thank goodness, took the download. Because I use Open Office, I had to save as PowerPoint (using two formats as I wasn’t sure which one the screen used in the meeting room). It probably takes either, but there’s no point in taking chances. Fortunately I had established the need for PowerPoint at a previous meeting – one of my few bits of forward planning. I just didn’t realise there were two formats until I started the download. That was how I came to leve home without any grooming . . .

Shuffling sheets of paper with your head down as you mumble lists of facts and figures is a very popular way of giving this sort of presentation. It shows commendable organisation and ensures that the audience gets all the information. However, you on’t be surprised to find that I don’t do it that way, I just switch the screen on and start talking. As I was later than I had intended that is what happened. Walk in, say hello, listen to the Secretary for a few minutes, be introduced and away . . .

Some Peace Medallions – 1919 – 1920

There are pitfalls to this approach, and wild hair, toast crumbs and a general air of dishevelment are only the start.

Fortunately I didn’t fall into many of them. Politics and royalty can be tricky subjects. My list of personal characteristics of Edward VIII (war hero, party animal, fell out with parents, altogether too fond of Nazis and American divorcees) linked past with present Prince Harry and even raised a modest laugh. It could, I confess, have gone either way.

I stumbled a little over the list of royal wedding presents in 1947. That Queensland sent 500 cases of tinned pineapple is well known, and 900 kg of boiled sweets sent by the Australian Junior Red Cross is easy enough to remember, but I had to consult a prompt card for 50,000 food parcels from the USA and 804 tonnes of food from the City of Toronto. Times were hard in 1947. Bread and potatoes were rationed after the war due to poor harvests (something we had avoided during the war, and medal design, as you can see from the pictures, was at a low ebb. (Yes, I have used those photos before).

Royal Wedding 1947 Obverse

Royal Wedding Medallion 1947 Reverse

I also forgot a couple of other things I meant to mention and omitted to set my timer when I started, so I finished 5-10 minutes earlier than planned. However, it’s better to be ten minutes too short than ten minutes too long. In my view too many speakers ignore that simple fact.

That’s over 500 words. It’s enough.

Day 97

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I’m sixty-three years old and I just did something I’ve never done before.

New things are quite common when you are young, but I honestly thought that apart from a colonoscopy I had no novel experiences left in life. I suppose there’s still bigamy and necromancy but, to be honest, I prefer a warm drink and a spot of TV.

So, you ask, what did I do? I “checked all” on my ASDA shopping and pressed the “order” button. It took about ninety seconds to do the shopping. It’s not something I normally do because it’s supposedly bad for the diversity of your diet. However, it will be three weeks since our last ASDA order so it’s not a real duplication. Ninety seconds to do a week’s shopping, and that included selecting the time slot. I’m impressed. Of course, by the time I’ve been informed that much of it is out of stock, I suppose it will take a bit longer.

I’ve just had another poem accepted. It sounds like the magic has worn off a little when I put it like that. I sent ten off, so I also had nine rejected, but it doesn’t sound quite so impressive put like that.

On the other hand, it’s a tanka, so it’s only five lines. I suppose a proper poet would only consider it a verse. Of course, a proper poet would say “stanza”. I’m not sure when this happened, they were definitely “verses” when I was at school.

Medal for the closing of the Central Ordnance Depot 1982 – it refers to the explosion in 1918 which killed 134 people. At the time it was suggested that the factory staff should be awarded a collective VC because of the speed they returned to full production.

Finally, in a day of novelty and adventure, I’ve been asked if I can do another talk at the Numismatic Society. There are two ways that you can take this. My first thought was relief, as it shows my last one, on the Peace Medals of 1919, wasn’t too bad. My second reaction was, obviously, panic. Fortunately it’s planned for the early part of 2023 so I have a year to prepare. As you may recall from the previous one, that’s eleven and a half months to think and two weeks to panic.

My subject is “A Hundred Years of Medallions” and will be about my attempt to form a collection of medallions – one for each year from 1900 to 2000. It’s actually 101 years, but as nobody agrees when the century starts and ends I thought I’d avoid the argument and just add an extra medallion.

Magistrates’ Court Medallion – two new courts were opened in 1996 – Nottingham and Mansfield

There’s an obvious flaw in my plan. After three years of thinking about it, I’ve only just started collecting the medallions seriously. So far I have secured 44, leaving me with 57 to go. I’ll have more by the time the talk comes round, so there will be plenty to talk about. All I need is the slides and photos.

Talking of which, I can’t remember where I put the stick with the last presentation on it, so at the moment I can’t even remember how many slides I’m going to need.

The header picture is a bronze medal designed by Paul Vincze for the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s Birth. The others have titles attached.

Royal Wedding Medallion 1947 – a time of national shame at the poor quality medallions that were being produced.

Day 64

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Here I am, firmly in the territory of the insomniac, and wondering what to say. I have decided to finish with the numbered titles because, as Tootlepedal said, it does tend to make you more aware of the passing time. However, I confess that tonight, I will be glad just to slap a number on it and go to bed.

I had a disturbed night lat night, a strange dream and, after returning from work, an evening of intermittent napping in my chair. As a result, I wasn’t tired at bedtime.

This evening I did some research on poetry magazines, took my methotrexate (ten tiny tablets once a week) and began to catalogue my medallion collection.

The irony of methotrexate, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is that they are very fiddly tablets, not much bigger than the head of a dress-making pin. I take them for arthritis, which even with the drugs, still makes my fingers inconveniently stiff. You would have thought that tablets to treat a condition that causes such a loss of manual dexterity would be big, rather than tiny. Normally they make things, like print and keys, bigger for us old folk.

The medallion collection is intended to be 100 in number, with one for every year from 1900 to 2000, which is actually 101. I decided on that because there are always such arguments about when centuries begin and end. The 20th century actually started on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000. However, we all celebrated the new millennium on December 31, 1999. I could do the right thing, start it at the year 1901 and argue with people about it for years to come. Or I can start it in 1900 and explain to the few people who notice, that I want a quiet life more than I want to be 100% accurate.

The medal for 1900 commemorates the centenary of the death of poet William Cowper. I now know a lot more about him than I did this afternoon, which shows how useful numismatics is as a hobby. I now know, for instance, that I have been pronouncing his name wrong. It’s pronounced Cooper.

An Interesting Day

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Tonight, I beat an Oxford College on University Challenge. I can’t remember which one it was, but it was one of the proper old ones. They had a shocker tonight and managed to get down to zero after interrupting with wrong answers several times. I, on the other hand, hit a good run of questions and my one aging brain defeated the four fresh young brains. It was a moment to treasure. Pardon my glee, but some nights I watch it I don’t even understand the questions. I didn’t actually understand them all tonight, to be honest.

We had a good day in the shop and bought in a nice modern collection. It has some very rare coins in it. This is unusual, because despite what you may read in the papers or on the internet, there are not many rare modern coins. The seller walked out with slightly surprised expression. It’s always nice when you can surprise someone with more money than they were expecting.

I continued my research on the silver prize medallion we found in one of the trays. It had been there for years – a prize for the Mediterranean Fleet Water Polo Championships in 1934. IT is named on the edge and I have been able to put together an interesting, though sad, story. The officer in question was decorated with the DSC for his part in the Battle of Narvik, serving aboard HMS Havock. The battle took place in the middle of a snow storm and the leader, Captain Warburton-Lee, was awarded the first VC of the war. Lieutenant Bruce, the recipient of the water polo medal, would go on to gain three Mentions in Despatches, the final one being posthumous when HMS Somali broke up whilst under tow after a torpedo attack whilst escorting a convoy to Murmansk. According to a newspaper report he refused rescue until his men had been taken off the life raft he was on, and died when his raft capsized.

In a world where the word “hero” is often used rather loosely it is good to see it used properly

I love my job, and I do enjoy the research, but there are some terribly sad stories out there.

eBay Excitement!

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I dropped Julia off at work etc…

(You can probably write that bit of the post for me.)

…turned on the computer, which refused to cooperate.

So I turned on the other computer and set to work. I had most of the parcels packed before anyone else arrive, at which point we had a look at the computer again, interrogated the internet and found that the pattern of pulsing lights indicate a problem with the power supply. This is what happens when you work with old, second-hand equipment.

However, this wasn’t the excitement.

Flying Horse of Gansu medallion & leaflet

We had a very nice horse medallion in auction on eBay. When we first put it on we had an email from somebody asking if they could buy it there and then, which is generally a good sign. We, of course refused, because we don’t do that – it is unfair to other bidders and it drives me mad when it happens. But partly it’s due to the fact that they never want to offer enough – they are just trying to avoid competing with others. Weonce turned down an offer of £250 for something that eventually sold for £75, but generally we don’t lose out, and we keep our integrity.

Normally, however, we turn down the offers and the bids keep rolling in.

On Saturday it had been around £50, by this morning it was £150 and by lunchtime it had climbed to £250.

Things were looking good.

It is, to be fair an exceptional medallion. The horse is well-modelled, in what I consider to be classic Chinese style, the lettering is high and crisp and the whole thing just oozed quality. Research indicates that the horse is the Flying Horse of Gansu. I knew the sculpture, but until then I didn’t know the name or the story. It was exhibited around the world in the 1970s but subsequent legislation prevents it from being taken outside mainland China.

Flying Horse of Gansu medallion – obverse

It came in the original box with paperwork and was made by Toye, Kenning and Spencer, who are one of the classic medallists. Even so, this was probably the best of their work I have ever seen.

In addition, it had a beautiful coloured tone where the silver had oxidised and was one of a limited run of just 2,000 medals. (Dealer’s note – when it enhances a medallion, or you are selling you call it tone or patina, when it is unpleasant, or when you are buying, you call it tarnish.)

Finally, the icing on the cake, it was to commemorate the Chinese Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1973. The Chinese love good quality medallions, and they also like to buy items which have links to Chinese culture.so all in all we were hoping for great things.

The bidder who had made the running all week was finally outbid at £305 with an hour to go. There was a flurry of bidding which took it up close to £380 with eight minutes to go, but as I said, whilst sitting on the edge of my seat, the serious bidders don’t bid with eight minutes to go.

Serious bidders, like me, use automated auction sniper programmes which bid with only seconds remaining.

Sure enough, as the sale closed, there was a sudden rise in price and the screen faded. That’s when they transfer the details from being an auction to being sold. It is slightly annoying as a seller when this happens. It doesn’t seem to happen when you are a buyer – the numbers may whizz round but you don’t have to change screens to find them again.

Final price – £511.

Quite an exciting day.

After that we might be able to afford the repairs to my computer.

Flying Horse of Gansu medallion – reverse

Like Work, but More Fun

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We had a busy day today – the phone kept ringing, people kept visiting (with and without appointments) and though we only had two orders on eBay overnight, we had six more come in during the day. We also managed to load three lots onto eBay.

It’s just like being at work, but more fun.

When I returned home my first impression was of lemon-scented hygiene. Julia had clearly been cleaning.

She had also been cooking. We had two apple crumbles and a plum tart. The plums are from our own tree, which has been very prolific this year. The apples are from the Mencap garden and the garden of one of the neighbours. It’s always satisfying to use the garden produce. It’s just a shame that it’s over so soon. We really ought to plan the garden better, but we never quite get round to it. We’ve had plenty of courgettes this year and the baskets of tumbling tomatoes are doing well.

She also managed to cook an excellent meal of marinaded chicken, rice with fruit and nuts and green salad with tomatoes from the garden.

Whilst doing that she caught the knife block with her elbow and was momentarily the middle of a cloud of flying knives. Not quite The House of Flying Daggers, but as close as we are likely to get.

Fortunately she survived unperforated.

1997 Silver Dollar

I took photos of a group 1921 pennies for eBay, a silver dollar and a papal visit medallion. While I was photographing the medallion I decided it would look good on my collection.

It doesn’t really fit in to my collection, but collectors can always find an excuse. It is an exceptionally nice medallion. with good portraits and excellent relief. And yes, now you come to ask, Newman really did, according to all his portraits, have a nose that size.

The 1921 pennies will come into their own next year – people always seem to like centenaries for souvenirs or party favours. The things that people buy are an interesting subject.

Pope Benedict XVI

Cardinal Newman

An Average Day, Ending Well

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We went out for breakfast this morning, took a ride in the countryside, looked at some ducks, who were enjoying an unusually full pond, and dropped stuff off at the charity shop. It was not a particularly full or active day, but it still left me feeling tired, as I am once again feeling a bit fluish.

It may be corona virus, man flu, ordinary flu, fatigue, cold, or hypochondria. It’s too early to say, but I will keep you up to date with developments.

I’m fairly sure I just need some Lemsip and a good night’s sleep, but we will see what happens overnight.

The day was not quite as bright blue as yesterday but it was still good in places. Similarly, the magpies were not quite to numerous or as perky as they were yesterday. As compensation, we did have three good views of buzzards and two of kestrels. We also watched some frolicking tufted ducks, as mentioned above.

On the plus side, there are more flowers and more blossom.

My sister went out for a walk this morning and recorded gadwall, kingfishers and red kites too. We might have to visit her and see some of her birds next time.

When we returned home we were surprised to have a knock on the door – it was a postman with a parcel from eBay. It was a boxed medallion, and would fit neatly in the palm of my hand. It was in a box big enough to hold half a dozen hardback books. You can’t say they had skimped on the postage.

I will probably take a photo tomorrow but the light is a bit too dim at home.

Finally, because this isn’t going to be a long post, I have just been told that an article I wrote has just been accepted for publication in the April or May issue of Medal News.

All in all, apart from the cold/flu/hypochondria things have been quite good.

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Life after the Care Farm