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Lot

№ 928

.

16 November 2022

Hammer Price:
£190

A medal awarded to one of the founders of the Australian Foreign Service

FRANCE, 150th Anniversary of the Banque de France, 1950, a silver medal after R. Dumarest, standing figure of France greeting Moneta, who pours coins from a cornucopia, rev. seated figures, named (Son Excellence Sir Keith Officer), 68mm (cf. DNW 66, 1433). About extremely fine and toned, rare in silver; in maroon gilt-blocked case of issue £90-£120

Sir Frank Keith Officer, OBE, MC (1889-1969), b. Toorak, Melbourne; educ. Melbourne University; served with Australian Imperial Force in Egypt, Gallipoli, France and Belgium, MC 1917, OBE 1919; in British colonial service, Nigeria, 1919-23; Australian charge d’affaires in Tokyo, 1941; Australian ambassador to the Netherlands, 1946-8, China 1948-9, and France 1950-5; died in Southampton June 1969