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Auction: 22007 - British and World Coins and Commemorative Medals Autumn Auction
Lot: 735

Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, AR Medal, 1687, by G. Bower, MORIENDO • RESTITVIT • REM • E • GODFREY, draped bust right, being strangled with his own cravat by two hands, rev. ECCLESIA • PERVERSA • TENET • FACIEM • DIABOLI •, heads of the Pope and Devil conjoined to form one face, CERVICE • FFRACTA • FIDEM • SVSTVLIT • ATLAS • XNS • 1678 on edge, 37mm, 29.89g (Eimer 259; MI 578/250), a scattering of contact marks to surfaces, reads FFRACTA rather than FRACTA on the edge and therefore struck in error, otherwise lustrous and with a rich cabinet tone, a pleasing example of one of Bower's smaller yet artistically more interesting depictions of the subject, about extremely fine

Sir Edmundbury [or Edmund Berry] Godfrey (1621-78), Justice of the Peace for Westminster, was found dead under mysterious circumstances, Catholics having been accused of his murder. In 1678 Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had become involved with Titus Oates, the force behind the Popish Plot, which led into an anti-Catholic campaign.



The design of the reverse is taken from medals which were very common at the time of the Reformation, and of which the object was the same, to satirize and ridicule the followers of the Pope. The Popish Pot and the death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey contributed to excite determined hostility to the Papal power and influence.

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Sold for
£480

Starting price
£400