Summary
The silver prize medal awarded to K. Thomson of the Centennial International Exhibition featuring a bust of Queen Victoria facing left wearing crown and veil and a Victor's wreath of wattle and oak around the Southern Cross and the motto in Latin "To the deserving arts, distinguished honour".
The 1888 Centennial International Exhibition, celebrating a century of Australian settlement, surpassed even the grand scale of the1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. It attracted over two million people, but the Victorian government had to spend £250 000 on it, ten times the amount estimated. The exhibition had a distinctively imperial focus, and a greater emphasis on culture than in 1880, particularly on music and painting. A choir of five thousand sang music old and new, and half a million people attended symphony concerts. There were over three thousand paintings on display, including works by artists like J.M.W. Turner and C. Lutyens. The Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens was lit inside and out by electric lights, claimed to be the largest installation of arc lighting in the world.
Mint: Melbourne.
Physical Description
The silver medal of the Centennial International Exhibition featuring a bust of Queen Victoria facing left wearing crown and veil and a Victor's wreath of wattle and oak around the Southern Cross and the motto in Latin "To the deserving arts, distinguished honour"
Obverse Description
Bust of Queen Victoria facing left wearing crown and veil ; around, CENTENNIAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION MELBOURNE
Reverse Description
Around below wreath, MELBOURNE MINT MDCCCLXXXVIII STOKES AND MARTIN SC. within wreath around Southern Cross, ARTIBUS DIGNUS HONOR INSIGNIS
Edge Description
IMPRESSED: K. THOMSON ESQ.
More Information
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Collecting Areas
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Date Issued
1888 AD
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Issued By
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Mint
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Designer
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Engraver
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Awarded To
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Person Depicted
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Inscriptions
Edge: K. THOMSON ESQ. (obverse): CENTENNIAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION MELBOURNE (reverse): MELBOURNE MINT MDCCCLXXXVIII STOKES AND MARTIN SC. around below wreath ARTIBUS DIGNUS HONOR INSIGNIS within wreath around Southern Cross
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Series
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Material
Silver
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Axis
12
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Dimensions
51 mm (Outside Diameter), 89.47 g (Weight)
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Shape
Round
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References
Car. 1888/8 silver
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Keywords