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Belgium: Boer War: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Accords Protection for Paul Kruger

Belgium: Boer War: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Accords Protection for Paul KrugerBelgium: Boer War: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Accords Protection for Paul Kruger
Belgium: Boer War: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Accords Protection for Paul KrugerBelgium: Boer War: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Accords Protection for Paul Kruger
Form: Circular with and without attached loop.
By: Hippolyte Le Roy / Paul Fisch
Date: 1900
Ref:  AM: 159; Hern: 362; Laidlaw: 0241;
Variations:
SizeMetalMassValue
30 mmGilded Silver
30 mmSilver
30 mmSilvered Bronze$170
30.3 mmBronze11.1 gm $120

Edge: Plain. Some medals stamped: "PAUL FISCH". Silver medal stamped: "A R".

Obverse: Diademed bust of the young Queen, left. Signed: “HIP. LE ROY” on the truncation. Legend: “WILHELMINA ∙ KONINGIN DER ∙ NEDERLANDEN = (small circle above) 1900”.

Reverse: Paul Kruger standing, front, holding top hat in right hand and a scroll marked: “JUSTICE” in left. Standing to the right, female figure representing Holland holding a protective shield and laurel branch above Kruger’s head. Below her feet: “GELDERLAND” in incuse letters. In an arc to the left: “LORENÇO MARQUEZ” and to the left: “MARSEILLE 1900”. Signed: “HIP. LE ROY” lower left. Legend in French above: “SOUVENIR DE LA COURAGEUSE PROTECTION ACCORDÉE PAR LA REINE DE HOLLANDE AU PRESIDENT DU TRANSVAAL (souvenir of the courageous protection accorded by the Queen of Holland to the President of the Transvaal)” and below: “S.E. PAUL KRUGER”

Notes: President Kruger went into exile in September 1900, first travelling by rail down to Lorenzo Marques where he stayed until 19th October. He then boarded the Dutch cruiser, Gelderland, which had been sent by the young Queen Wilhelmina to provide him with a safe passage to Europe. He landed in Marseilles, France, on 23rd November 1900. For the remainder of his life he lived in Utrecht, Netherlands, under the protection of the Queen.

Commissioned by the Brussels newspaper, Petit Blue, as a tribute to Queen Wilhelmina for her insistence that the Netherlands should offer Kruger a home in exile.

Hippolyte Le Roy (1857 – 1943) and Paul Fisch (1865 - ?) were Belgian Medallist.