Great Britain: Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra / Union Castle Line, Spithead Review |
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| Form: | Circular | ||||||||
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| By: | Emil Fuchs / Elkington & Co. | ||||||||
| Date: | 1902 | ||||||||
| Ref: |
AM2: 95; BHM: 3866; Laidlaw: 0414; |
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| Variations: |
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| Edge: |
Plain. |
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| Obverse: |
In high relief, conjoined crowned and robed busts of the King and Queen, right. Signed: "E. FUCHS / 1901" diagonally above the King's shoulder on the left. Signed: "ELKINGTON" on the truncation. Legend: "KING EDWARD VII QUEEN ALEXANDRA". |
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| Reverse: |
Bow and port view of a two-masted steamship, masts furled, steaming on sea, hills on the shore behind. Legend above: "THE UNION-CASTLE LINE" and below between stops: "28TH. JUNE 1902" |
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| Notes: |
Comes inside a blue fitted case lined with white silk and blue velvet. On the inside of the lid: "DIAMOND / MERCHANTS / Searle & Co Ltd / GOLDSMITHS / & SILVERSMITHS / 79, LOMBARD ST / LONDON". Possibly the medal was commissioned by the Union-Castle Line which arranged through Searle & Co for its production. The King reviewed the British fleet at Spithead, Portsmouth, on 16 August 1902, seven days after his coronation. The review was originally planned for 28 June (as on this medal) but both the coronation and the review had to be postponed because of the King's ill health. The Union-Castle Line was formed in 1900 from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. The vessel depicted on the reverse is reported (BHM) to be the SS Hawarden Castle, built on the Clydeside in 1883 for the Castle Mail Packet Company. She was transferred to the Union-Castle Line after the merger of the two Companies in 1900 and served as a troop ship during the Boer War. 1n 1903 she was sold to the Booth Steamship Company and renamed the Cyril. She was sunk in 1905 as a result of a collision off the coast of Brazil. |
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