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Z.A. Republic: Witwatersrand Agricultural Society Award

Z.A. Republic: Witwatersrand Agricultural Society AwardZ.A. Republic: Witwatersrand Agricultural Society Award
Form: Circular
By: Bertram MacKennal (obv)) /List Brothers, Johannesburg (rev) / Vaughton & Sons, Birmingham
Date: 1898-1899
Ref:  Laidlaw: 0949b;
Variations:
SizeMetalMassValue
39.2 mmSilver34.1 gm$85

Edge: Plain.

Obverse: Draped female standing on ground, front, holding laurel wreath in her left hand over kneeling woman on the right offering bowl of fruit. On the left, kneeling man offering wheat sheath. Signed: "BM" on the exergue line. right. Legend on a raised roughened band above: "WITWATERSRAND LANDBOUW GENOOTSCHAP" and below between star stops: "S.A. REPUBLIC".



Reverse: Within a wreath of wheat (left) and corn (right) tied with a ribbon at the bottom, across: "TOEGEKEND (in an arc) / AAN" with space for engraving below. Signed at the foot: "LIST BROS JOHANNESBURG" then stamped by the marker's mark: "V.&S" and the Birmingham sterling silver hallmarks for 1888-9 (y).

This medal engraved: "J.C. / RAUBENHEIMER / TOBACCO IN LEAF".

Notes: This medal is similar to the earlier medals for the Rand Show (Laidlaw 0949a). The obverse design has been improved and the reverse redesigned.

Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal(1863-1931) was an Australian sculptor most famous for designing the coinage and stamps bearing the likeness of King George V.

List Brothers was a company of Jewellers with premises in Pritchard Street, Johannesburg.

The Witwatersrand Agricultural Society was instituted 1894. Shows were organised in land adjacent to Milner Park in Johannesburg between 1895 and the start of the Boer War. Paul Kruger opened the first 'Rand Show' where displays of livestock, poultry, dairy products, bees, ornamental plants and trees, farming equipment, and wagons and coaches were exhibited. The Rand Show recommenced in 1907 and continues to be held annually during the Easter holidays. The venue has changed and the nature of the exhibition has become oriented towards family entertainment.