Great Britain, Captain James Cook Medal (Æ) by Lewis Pingo for the Royal Society 1784Left-facing bust of Captain James Cook (1728-1779) in his naval uniform. IAC. COOK OCEANI INVESTIGATOR ACERRIMVS (James Cook the most intrepid investigator of the seas) around the border. REG. SOC.LOND. / SOCIO. SVO (The Royal Society London, to its Fellow) below; signed L.P.F. (Lewis Pingo fecit) beneath the truncation of the shoulder.
The personified figure of Fortune leaning against a rostral column, holding a rudder resting on a globe; shield bearing Union Jack leaning against rostra column. NIL INTENTATVM NOSTRI LIQUERE (Our men have left nothing unattempted) around the border. In exergue AUSPICIIS / GEORGII / III (Under the auspices of George III).
MH 374; BHM 258; Betts 553; Eimar 780.
(43 mm, 12h).
On 14 February 1779, the world’s greatest navigator and maritime explorer, Captain James Cook (1728-1779), was killed in a skirmish with the Hawaiian inhabitants at Kealakekua Bay, on the big island. News of his death took almost a year to reach England. On receiving the news, the Chairman of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, sought designs for a medal to celebrate Cook’s achievements. Many artisans submitted ideas for consideration. However, it was the design of the chief engraver of the London Mint, Lewis Pingo (1743-1830) that won the sanction of the Royal Society. Work on the dies commenced on 15 June 1780 although it was to be more than three years before Sir Joseph Banks announced that the engraving was complete in November 1783. The medal was struck the following year in gold (22 copies), silver (322 copies) and bronze (577 copies). The bronze strikes were distributed free to the Fellows of the Royal Society, while gold and silver were by subscription only, with several of the gold medals reserved for dignitaries, including the King George III and James Cook’s widow Elizabeth.
The portrayal of Cook on the medal is derived from the famous portrait by Nathaniel Dance. The accompanying Latin legend translates to ‘James Cook the most intrepid explorer of the seas.' The reverse celebrates Cook's journeys, with the image of Fortune holding a rudder over the globe and a motto in Latin, which translated reads 'Our men have left nothing unattempted'.n.igma
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Hanover, George III, 1760-1820, Cu Halfpenny, Tower (London) mint 1771 GEORGIVS · III · REX · laureate and armoured bust right.
BRITAN NIA · Britannia seated left on globe, holding olive branch and long transverse sceptre, Union shield to lower right, 1771 in exergue.
Peck 898; SCBC 3774.
(28 mm, 9.88 g, 6h).
Classical Numismatic Group; ex- C. W. Pearson Collection.
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temp. STUART, William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1677-1690, AR Medal by George Bower 1688 * GVIL · SANCROFT · ARCHIEPISC · CANTVAR · 1688 Bust of William Sancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wearing camauro and canonical robes, facing right.
Seven medallions of the Bishops committed to the Tower of London: Bishops Henry Compton (middle – London), Francis Turner (upper right, proceeding clockwise – Ely), Thomas Ken (Bath), Sir John Trelawney (Bristol), Thomas White (Peterborough), John Lake (Chichester), and William Lloyd (St. Asaph); twelve stars around; signed GB·F· (George Bower fecit) below.
MI 622/37; Eimer 288b. By G. Bower. Dated 1688.
(51 mm, 53.45 g, 12h).
CNG 85 (15 September 2010) Lot 1562: California Collection of British Historical Medals.
This remarkable medallion portrays no less than eight people directly associated with a historical event that did much to shape the modern secular British democracy. In 1687, King James II enacted unilaterally and against the will of the Parliament the Declaration of Indulgence as the first step in establishing the freedom of religion in England. The ensuing protest concerned the legality of James right to make the dispensation in the absence of the support of Parliament, plus the absence of a guarantee that the Anglican Church would remain as the established church. Many leaders within the clergy refused to read the Declaration in church from the pulpit as instructed by the King in early 1688. This culminated in a petition to the King against the reading of the Declaration. The petition originated from the hand of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, depicted on the obverse of the medal and was signed by the six other bishops identified around the margin of the reverse of the medallion. Bishop Henry Compton, depicted in the centre of the reverse, was included on the medal due to his earlier dissent to the King’s approach to Catholicism, for which James removed him from office.
The seven bishops who signed the petition were charged with seditious libel and imprisoned in the Tower of London in May 1688. Brought to trial before the Court of the King’s Bench, the bishops were acquitted. This served as a precursor to James’ deposition shortly thereafter.
This medal was issued following the trial, in commemoration of the action taken by William Sancroft and his fellow bishops in refusing to follow James II’s edict to read the Declaration of Indulgence from the pulpit. The medal connects directly with one of the key events in British history, which lead ultimately to the deposition of James II by his son-in-law and daughter, William III and Mary II of Orange on 5 November 1688. As a direct result of the action of the seven bishops, the right to petition the king was enshrined in the new Bill of Rights in 1689. Simplistically, some people see this medal as a testament to religious intolerance, although the issues of the time that brought it into being were far more complex, involving matters of secular authority, constitutional right, and the very basis of power in the evolving secular democratic British state. This is demonstrated by the decision of Sancfroft and five of the seven bishops that they could not swear allegiance to the new protestant King William III, for to do so would be a repudiation of their prior sworn loyalty to the deposed Catholic King James II. As a result, Sancroft was dismissed from his role in 1690 and died in relative obscurity three years later.
Few coins, or medals, connect so directly with history and in doing so depict so many influential participants. The medal was the work of George Bower (d. 1690) a medallist who worked in London from 1650-1689. He had been appointed to the position of Engraver of the Royal Mint and Embosser in Ordinary in 1664.
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