SA Union: Royal Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
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Form:
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Circular. The bronze medal comes with and without an attached lug. The gold, silver and bronze medals come as a set of three inside a blue S.A. Mint case. Also the silver and bronze medals come as a set of two inside a shorter case.
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By:
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Percy Metcalfe / Royal Mint (obv); G. Kruger Gray / Hennie Potgieter / SA Mint (rev) |
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Date:
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1947 |
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Ref:
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AM2: 282, 284; Laidlaw: 0027;
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Variations:
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| Size | Metal | Mass | Value |
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| 32.4 mm | 9ct Gold | 17.2 gm | $800 | | 32.4 mm | Silver | 17.8 gm | $60 | | 32.4 mm | Bronze | 14.2 gm | $20 | | 31.5 mm | Bronze with lug | 14 gm | $5 | | 32.3 mm | Silvered Bronze with lug | 13.8 gm | $12 |
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Edge:
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Plain
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Obverse:
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Conjoined crowned busts of the King and Queen, left. Signed: “P.M.” on the base of the King’s shouder”. On a raised band around above: “ROYAL VISIT” and below between stops: “KONINKLIKE BESOEK”
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Reverse:
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South African coat of arms with the date: “1947” below. The mark of SA Mint: “S.A.M” to the right below. On a raised band around to the left: “UNIE VAN SUID-AFRIKA” and to the right between stops: “UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA”. The gold medal has the S.A.M mint mark stamped below the arms and 9ct; the silver S.A.M and 925.
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Notes:
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The design of the conjoined busts on the obverse was by Percy Metcalfe and was first used on the 1937 coronation medal struck by the British Royal Mint. The reverse was designed by George Kruger Gray after a plaster model by Hennie Potgieter. The master dies were made at the Royal Mint in Britain and sent to the South African Mint which produced the medals and the cases.
George Kruger Gray was responsible for the design of the reverse of the South African coinage of the period.
Sets of three containing the gold medal are rare. Heritage Auctioneers report an unsubstantiated mintage of 50.
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