PREVIEW: THE SILICH COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL & ART MEDALS: PART 1: 6 MARCH

It is hard to imagine the enormity of the impact of the death of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. More than 200 years later, he remains pre-eminent as Britain’s greatest naval hero.

The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who heard the news while staying in Naples, conveyed some idea of the widely felt blow, writing: “Never can I forget the sorrow and consternation that lay on every countenance…Numbers stopped and shook hands with me, because they had seen tears on my cheek, and conjectured, that I was an Englishman; and several, as they held my hand, burst, themselves into tears.”

 

As well as the most impressive state funeral ever held in London until that time, Nelson was memorialised in a medal commissioned by King George III from the celebrated medallist Abraham Abramson (1754-1811). It was to become Abramson’s best known medal in his English series, a considerable feat for the man who had been appointed Royal Medallist in 1782, with a career that produced more than 250 medals in all.

An example of the medal is offered here. Struck in silver, the obverse shows the late Viscount facing right under his name, Horatius Nelson, and above the medallist’s name, Abramson. The reverse depicts a rostral column adorned with naval accoutrements, and the legend FAMAM QUI TERMINAT ASTRIS and in ex. VINC HISP ET GALL CLASS CECIDIT D XXI OCT MDCCCV.

In extremely fine and toned condition, the 40mm medal is estimated at £400-500.