Special Collections

Sold on 17 July 2019

1 part

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A Collection of Medals for the Boxer Rebellion 1900

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Lot

№ 853

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18 July 2019

Hammer Price:
£15,000

The rare Defence of Legations pair awarded to Able Seaman A. Peel, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, formerly valet to Mr. T.B. Clarke-Thornhill, Secretary at the British Legation in Pekin

China 1900, 1 clasp, Defence of Legations (A. Peel); British War Medal 1914-20 (A.A. 2204 A. Peel, A.B., R.N.V.R.) mounted for wear; Peking Siege Commemoration Medal, by J. Tayler Foot, 57mm, bronze, the obverse featuring the Ch’ien Men engulfed in flames, in the exergue a cannon, ‘junii xx - augusti xiv A.D. MDCCCC’ around, the reverse featuring Britannia and Germania standing facing, clasping hands, a Chinese female standing behind, with a dragon below, ‘Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. Ichabod!’ around, the edge impressed ‘A. Peel’; together with the recipient’s related miniature dress medals, and a Great War Silver War Badge, the reverse officially numbered ‘R.N. 16389’, all housed in a contemporary A. H. Baldwin & Sons, London, fitted case, nearly extremely fine and very rare (3) £7,000-£9,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals for the Boxer Rebellion 1900.

View A Collection of Medals for the Boxer Rebellion 1900

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Collection

Provenance: Buckland, Dix & Wood, October 1993.

Arthur Peel was present throughout the siege of the British Legations in his capacity as personal valet to Mr. T. B. Clarke-Thornhill, Secretary in the Diplomatic Service and a noted numismatist whose collection of more than 17,000 coins was bequeathed to the British Museum.

The Peking Siege Commemoration Medal, designed by by J. Tayler Foot, is a most interesting piece and rarely encountered. They were struck at the instigation of Mr Arthur D. Brent, an employee of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, who was himself present throughout the siege and whose medals were sold in these rooms on 25 February 1998. A limited number only were struck for those actually present at the siege. An interesting anecdote relating to the medal is recorded in ‘
The Siege of the Peking Legations’ by Rev. Roland Allen M.A., Smith, Elder & Co., London 1901, pp 263-4:
“Encouraged by this good news (of impending relief) and full of high hopes, the general committee posted a notice at the Bell Tower offering a prize for designs for a Peking siege medal to be struck as a memorial of this strange experience. There were some three or four designs, one representing the burning of the Chien Men, one a Marine posted at a barricade, one three figures of Europe, America and Japan standing hand in hand on the head of a dragon, one a dragon breathing fire upon the Bell Tower, with the legend 'Ex ore Draconis liberati sumus,' and one or two others which I have forgotten. The motto which took the popular fancy was 'Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,' but that really was a most unwarranted prophecy.”