Summary

This silver prize medal was awarded to Thomas Aitken for porter at the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. Porter is a dark brown, bitter beer brewed from charred or browned malt. The Melbourne International Exhibition ran from 1 October 1880 to 30 April 1881. The exhibition building that still stands was constructed for the occasion, designed by Joseph Reed and built by David Mitchell. Over 1.3 million people visited the exhibition at a time when Melbourne's population was only around 282,000.
Mint: Melbourne.

Physical Description

Silver prize medal of the 1880 exhibition won by Thomas Aitken. It features a head of Queen Victoria facing left wearing coronet and veil by Harry Stokes (name on truncation), with the legend MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION MDCCCLXXX : The reverse has the legend "VITAM / EXCOLVERE / PER ARTES" within an olive wreath and the artist's name H. STOKES in small letters at the bottom

Obverse Description

Head of Queen Victoria, wearing small crown and veil left; around, MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION MDCCCLXXX .

Reverse Description

Within closed wreath, "VITAM / EXCOLVERE / PER ARTES"; below in small letters, H. STOKES

Edge Description

THOMAS AITKEN, MELBOURNE _ PORTER

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