Coronation & Jubilee Medals

[Guest Darrell]

Down another slippery slope. I'll start this off with the ones recently acquired, I'll add to it in the future no doubt.

1. Coronation Medal 1911

This medal was issued in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of King George V. The silver medal is 32 millimeters in diameter. The ribbon is dark blue with two thin red stripes in its centre.

The medal's obverse side has a profile of King George V and his wife Queen Mary, while the reverse side has the crowned Royal Cipher above the date of the coronation.

This coronation medal set the precedent of being awarded to personnel who were not present at the coronation.

Obverse:

Edited July 12, 2008 by Darrell

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse:

[Guest Darrell]

2. Jubilee Medal 1935

This medal was issued in 1935 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V; 25 years on the throne. It was a silver medal, 32 millimeters in diameter. The ribbon was red with two dark blue and a white stripe at the edges.

The obverse side had a left-facing profile of King George V and Queen Mary. The reverse side had a crowned GRI monogram flanked by the dates of accession and jubilee.

Obverse:

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse;

[Guest Darrell]

3. Coronation Medal 1937

This medal was issued to commemorate the coronation of King George VI on 12 May 1937. The silver medal is 32 millimeters in diameter. The ribbon is blue edged with a red stripe and two white stripes.

The obverse side has a profile of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The reverse side has a crowned GRI over the date of the coronation, and the names of the King and Queen around the reverse's circumference.

Obverse:

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse.

[Guest Darrell]

4. Coronation Medal 1953

This medal was issued in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The silver medal is 32 millimeters in diameter, with the Queen's profile on the obverse side. The text "Queen Elizabeth II Crowned 2nd June 1953" is round the circumference of the reverse side, with the royal monogram EIIR in the middle.

The medal's ribbon is dark red with two narrow blue stripes in the middle, with narrow white edges.

The news of Hillary and Tenzing's conquest of Mount Everest reached London on the morning of the coronation. After the coronation, members of the expedition were invited to Buckingham Palace, where they all received the Coronation Medal with the text "Mount Everest Expedition" on its rim.

Obverse:

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse'

[David S]

Nice ones Darrell

[Guest Darrell]

Nice ones Darrell

Thanks David.

[leigh kitchen]

It's a pity that Jubilee Medals became so controversial during the current Queen's reign - the Silver Jubilee being handed out on a penny pinching limited & ultimately random basis, the Golden Jubilee on a far more generous level but tainted by political spite. Initially the police were'nt going to be awarded it, the reason given was that it was for organisations which had a special relationship with the monarchy (the police swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen but were obviously not in favour with the government), the ambulance service were to be awarded it. The fire service were awarded it but the medals were issued long overdue, following that services industrial action & with instructions from a certain Mr J. "Two Jags" Prescott that they were to be dished out quietly & without ceremony.

I assume that the Silver Jubilee would have been awarded more generously if the medal was in cupro nickel, but then it's a "silver" occassion. In silver plate? A bit cheapo, but then the Golden Jubilee is'nt made of solid gold, it's gold plated.

Edited July 12, 2008 by leigh kitchen

[Ed_Haynes]

A nice thread, Darrell, thanks.

(And, no, rest easy, I'll NOT drag this off into the various Durbar Medals! You are safe.)

Just one more datapoint, though, the 1911 Coronation with clasp "Delhi" for those few Indian Army men (only non-Europeans, sorry) who were at both events. This one is named to 221 Lance-Naick Gurbhaji, 41st Dogra Regiment (Durbar roll, p. 456). Just 134 of this clasp were awarded. There was no standard method of attaching these loose clasps, and it was all up to the inventiveness of the regimental blacksmith.

Edited July 12, 2008 by Ed_Haynes

[Ed_Haynes]

Oh, and the Edward VII Coronation Medal. Sorry, the only one I have (silver) was the one awarded to Winifred, Lady Hardinge of Penshurst, C.I., K.i.H. (the Vicerene). (One of the very few groups to a native -- of the British Isles -- in my collection.)

[Ed_Haynes]

And her Queen Victioria Jubilee 1897 medal, silver.

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Ed,

I know there is a tendency, on the part of some, to ignor the former "Empire" out side of the U.K. but the Dubar Medals are a part of any discussion regarding Coronation and Jubilee Medals. Who am I preaching to?!

The only Coronation or Jubilee item I have other than what has been posted is a cased Bronze Medallion and a single silver small version. I have been told the larger cased bronze medallion was given to Senior Civil Servants and the smaller (25 cent coin sized) issue was for Junior Civil Servants. I have not verified this so don't take it as gospel and if anyone can add to my limited knowledge please do so.

I noticed, it taking the bronze medallion out to photograph that ther eis some verdigris starting to appear that needs my attention.

I hope you like my offering, and about those Dubar Medals Ed....

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here is my favourite side of the medallion, perhaps because as that was how Queen Victoria looked like to me when I was a kid.

Just how old is this codger!!!!! You may be thinking. The government won't let you die until they get all of the taxes out of you that they can here in Canada.

The silver medallion is in better condition than the photo shows and I left it in the package that the deasler stored it in as I have not had the time to get to the local coin dealer to purchase a proper holder. There was a box that these came in that I don't have but the dealer supplied a picture of one such box along with this medallion. He laminated the computer image so I've kept it with the medallion thinking that I will never be lucky enough to find an authentic one.

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here are the "reverse" sides of the medallions. You can see the spots of verdigris on the brozne medallion. I noticed that I can remove it, for the most part, with my finger nail. It's on my workbench for now until I get time this afternoon to tackel this problem.

Cheers

Brian

[Guest Darrell]

Interesting stuff guys. Thanks for posting.

[Brian Wolfe]

Wow is this thread ever going political quickly! I see myself as a colonial to the point of being an Empire Loyalist even though my family first came to Canada from the U.K. in 1799. The last arrived from Prussia in the early 1850s. Still, I missed the "slam" towards the British Empire completely in the past few posts. I do find it interesting that the term "native" can even be applied to the majority of people living in the U.K. as history tells me the original peoples have been displaced over and over again back to the dawn of written history. Here if I called myself a native I would be reminded that I am not a member of the First Nations (Indians for those who don't know better) and that I should not consider myself a "native". Even though my family predates Canada as a nation.

I guess there is a history here on the forum that I don't need to know. To bad to spoil Darrell's post with this political sniping. Would it be out of line to ask that such "putting one in their place", so-to-speak, indeed be reserved to PMs? It really takes the pleasure out of posts like this.

Thanks for letting me put in my two cents worth and I hope no one takes offence by this.

As a way to make it up I am posting a little medal given out during the Coronation in 1937. What I liked about it the most is on the reverse.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's the reverse.

Princess Elizabeth is not seen very often on medals of any kind so I am quite fond of this small item in me collection.

Cheers

Brian

[Guest Darrell]

Thanks Brian. Hope others will add if they have medals in this category. Even if they have alreday been posted above.

(Shameless Plug here --> If anyone has earlier Coronation or Jubilee medals they are thinking of letting go, let me know . Also the silver and Gold EIIR variety).

[Brian Wolfe]

I had to add this photo.

It is of the Royal couple as they are leaving the train station in Kitchener, Ontario during their visit to Canada shortly after the Coronation.

Cheers

Brian

[censlenov]

I'm glad they made it to you safely and that was sure quick they were just posted Thursday. If i decide to clear out anything else in my collection in this field i'll let you know.

Cheers

Chris

[Ed_Haynes]

Should you wish, you may wish to glance at http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=29710

[Guest Darrell]

Couple more came in. The first one is a nice compliment to Ed's Silver 1902.

This one is the Bronze 1902 Coronation Medal:

Obverse: