Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 24005 - The Official Coinex Auction of Ancient, British and World Coins
Lot: 534

Coronation of George IV, Official AR Medal, 19 July 1821, by Benedetto Pistrucci for the Royal Mint, GEORGIUS IIII D • G • BRITANNIARUM REX F • D •, laureate head left, rev. PROPRIO JAM ANIMO PATERNO •, George IV enthroned, crowned by Victory, before him stand Britannia, Hibernia and Scotia, INAUGURATUS DIE • JULII • XIX ANNO • MDCCCXXI in exergue in three lines, edge plain, 35mm, 16.97g, 1h (Eimer 1146a; BHM 1070), attractively toned with multicolour hues, extremely fine

It is estimated that there only 800 silver medals were issued for the Coronation, fewer even than the number of Gold strikings, which numbered approximately 1,000. Italian engraver Benedetto Pistrucci was tasked with designing and engraving the medal, which featured a fashionable classically-inspired portrait. Initially, the Privy Council rejected his design on account that the King was seated too low. Pistrucci made a central cut, adjusting the position, and engraved a ceremonial dais to raise the Monarch, sparing the need to commission a new die.



The Coronation banquet in 1821 was to be the last, ending a tradition held since the crowning of Richard the Lionheart in September 1189. King George IV would host an almighty feast in Westminster Hall, with over two thousand guests eating and even more in the galleries to watch. The twenty-three temporary kitchens produced 160 dishes of fish, 480 sauce boats, 160 tureens of soup, eighty savoury pies and one hundred gallons of iced punch, along with 3,271 cold dishes. The decorations of the tables, according to the Annual Register "consisted of triumphal [arches] ornamented with artificial flowers [and] temples" to accompany the meats, conserves, fruit desserts and decorative pastries.



More memorable for some guests would not have been the food, more so the trials they had with the candles. The twenty-six vast chandeliers that held over two thousand candles sweltered under the July heat, and as a result dripped lashings of hot wax onto the peers and peeresses below. No doubt this would have added to the chaotic spectacle for the onlookers even more.

Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£520

Starting price
£400