STUNNING COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL AND ART MEDALS TO BE SOLD AT NOONANS

A fascinating collection of Historical and Art Medals representing many important historical figures and events ranging from Lord Nelson to the Munich Olympics will be offered at Noonans Mayfair in a single-owner sale on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at midday.

New Zealand-born David Nicholas Silich (1944-2018) amassed the extraordinary collection, and this is the first of eight auctions that Noonans will hold over the next four years to disperse work by over 900 artists, medallists and sculptors: in total around 3,500 pieces valued at upwards of £400,000.

Silich emigrated to London in his twenties, building a highly successful career in finance. Initially a collector of Renaissance medals, and an early member of the British Art Medal Society, he started collecting in the early 1980s.

The collection embraces medals from all corners of the globe, from Canada to New Zealand, Chile to Japan, highlighting the extraordinary craftsmanship of leading artists and all brought together by one man’s passion for the subject.

“The decision to catalogue it alphabetically by artist is a road infrequently travelled outside mainland Europe but was taken in order to demonstrate the vast range of medallic sculpture available to present-day collectors,” says Noonans specialist and Special Projects Director Peter Preston-Morley.

As with so many of the world’s leading collectors, Silich was a generous donor, presenting many pieces to the British Museum and other institutions, including Harvard University Art Museum in New York. Philip Attwood, Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum between 2010 and 2020, singles out Silich’s most exciting donation to the British Museum as a portrait medal of Louis Pasteur cast in glass in 1922 by the jeweller and glass designer René Lalique.

Estimates range from £2,000 to less that £100. A 1978 light bronze medal by Therese Dufresne, depicting a bird’s eye view of Manhattan skyscrapers, the reverse showing a network of roads set above the buildings. The estimate is £60-80 [lot 126].

Dating to 1934 and inspired by the Art Deco style of the times is a medal cast to mark the inauguration of the Port Jerôme oil refinery located by the Seine near Le Havre. It had been built over the previous five years by the Rockefeller’s Standard Oil company (later Esso) after the French government ruled that the country should not rely entirely on refined imports but should have the facilities to refine crude oil itself. The refinery was the first in Europe to employ the process of purifying lubricating oils using phenol. It was linked to the port of Le Havre, where oil tankers landed, by a 35km pipeline. In 1940 the refinery was partly destroyed, but it was rebuilt after the War. The creation of the refinery also led to the establishment of a garden city next to the site; both remain today. Such an important moment in the country’s industrial development had to be celebrated with a memorable artwork, and Hungarian-born Gustave Miklos (1888-1967) took the commission. The result was a cast bronze view of the refinery, the reverse depicting a standing helmeted figure appearing out of the flame. The 115 x 64mm piece is extremely fine and very rare and is estimated at £600-800 [lot 273].

The highest-valued medal in this first sale is a wonderfully sculpted medal to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887 by Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854-1934) – who is more well known for creating Eros in Piccadilly Circus. Only 60 of the struck and awarded as prizes by the Art Union of London in 1887 and 1888. It is estimated at £1,500-2,000 [lot 164].  

PART II OF THE SILICH COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL & ART MEDALS WILL BE ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024