Mr Boulton's Trafalgar Medal (bronze), 1805
Obverse, a bust of Lord Admiral Nelson facing left |
Reverse, a depiction of a sea-battle with Trafalgar's name and date given in the exergue |
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Obverse, a bust of Lord Admiral Nelson facing left |
Reverse, a depiction of a sea-battle with Trafalgar's name and date given in the exergue |
After Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805 the prominent Birmingham industrialist Matthew Boulton distributed about 15,000 Trafalgar Medals at his own expense to participants in the battle. These medals were all in white metal, but subsequent years saw a number of presentation issues in other metals, of which this bronzed copper piece is one.
The medals all share the same design, which shows a view of the battle, with Nelson’s signal ‘ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY’ above.
This piece was not one of the original white-metal issue, and therefore had no genuine recipient; its first also is likewise unknown. Lester Watson purchased it at some point before 1928.