The joy of collecting modern medallions is that you never know what your searches will turn up. A few months ago I bought a large bronze medallion in its original box. The subject is Sir Richard Burbidge, a name which meant nothing to me. In the box was a compliments slip “With my deep appreciation and thanks for your loyalty and support during my time as Chairman of the Harrods Group”. It still meant very little, though Harrods is, of course, a name recognised over most of the world.
More interesting was the style. A closer look at the eBay picture confirmed that it was by Paul Vincze. He is a well known name in the world of medallions and is probably best known in this country for his series of medallions celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.
Vincze was a Jewish-Hungarian sculptor and medallist, born in Hungary in 1907. He studied in Italy and moved to Britain in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. He was naturalised in 1948 and represented Britain in the last ever Artistic Olympics, held in London in that year. Apart from his Shakespeare medals he is known for the medals he designed for Israel, and for designing coins for Ghana, Libya, Nigeria, Malawi and Guinea.
Sir Richard Burbidge Bt, CBE (1897–1966) was, as the inscription tells us, Chairman of Harrods from 1945 until 1959. He was the third to hold the baronetcy, and the third member of the family to be Chairman of Harrods. He was educated at Rugby School, served in the Great War as a Captain in the Army Service Corps, studied retail distribution methods in the USA for a year after the war and joined Harrods in 1920. He succeeded his father as Chairman in 1945, was awarded the CBE in 1946 for his wartime work with the NAAFI, and left the company after it was taken over by the House of Fraser. He stayed in retail and, after six months on the board, became Chairman of British Home Stores.
The medal is bronze and signed on both sides by Vincze. The obverse depicts a profile of Sir Richard and the reverse has a classical scene of Mercury (god of commerce) and Ceres (goddess of bountiful harvests). Both, presumably, are seen as relevant to a large retail operation. It is 57mm in diameter and comes in a fitted case with a compliments card thanking the recipient for their loyalty and support.
The Shakespeare medal is one of his better known works, as mentioned above. This example is bronze and 38mm in diameter. They were made in a variety of sizes and metals – 57mm, 38mm and 31mm, platinum, gold, silver (.999 and ,925) and bronze. There was even an 8mm size, though it looks like a charm for a bracelet rather than a medallion. He was also responsible for a series of medallions showing scenes from Shakespeare’s plays and a series of wall-mounted plaques showing 36 of the plays. For some reason he missed out Two Noble Kinsmen and Henry VI Part II. These plaques are 28cm in diameter and were rediscovered in 2014 when a wall was moved during a change of exhibitions at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
The third medal commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. It is 59mmm across, bilingual and marked “State of Israel” and “2242” on the edge. It comes in its original packet from the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation, who were another major user of Vincze’s work. To summarise the Balfour Declaration is beyond me. It has kept historians occupied for the last hundred years and its effects can still be seen every time we switch on the news.
So, from Hungary to Harrods, and from Warwickshire to Tel Aviv. It is amazing how much there is to learn from the hobby of Numismatics, and the prompting of a few medallions.
