Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/283

 10 s. x. SEPT. 19, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

231

The obverse and the reverse of the Corona- tion medal, and the reverse of the Delhi medal, are given on a plate accompanying the letterpress.

" A medal was also struck for distribution to the Metropolitan and City Police in commemoration of the Coronation. The obverse bears the King's effigy specially designed by Mr. G. W. De Saulles by Command of the King, and is somewhat similar to that of the Coronation medal, but faces to the left, and is inscribed * EDWARDUS vu BEX IM- PEBATOR.' On the reverse is a crown resting on crossed branches of oak and olive, above which is inscribed, * CORONATION OF HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD vu 1902.' Surrounding the inscription, and on a raised margin, the different branches of the Police Service are indicated, namely, ' City of London Police,' * Metropolitan Police,' * Police Ambulance Service,' and ' St. John's Ambulance Brigade.'" P. 20.

Both sides of this medal (Metropolitan Police) are given on a plate.

Sets of specimen coins bearing, for the first time, the effigy of His Majesty agreeing with the list given in the query, the copper (i.e. bronze) coins excepted were supplied to the public at IQL, or with a case 10Z. 6s. Similar sets, minus the five-pound and two- pound pieces, cost 21. 12s. Qd. ; with a case, 5s. more. In the lists the fourpenny, three- penny, twopenny, and penny pieces are given as " Maundy " money (p. 21).

Five-pound and two-pound pieces " were issued on two occasions during the reign of Her late Majesty, in 1887 and 1893, when new de- signs were adopted for the coinage, but, as there is no demand for them for general circulation, the amounts coined have been inconsiderable." P. 6.

"On the two previous occasions (in 1887 and 1893) when specimen coins were struck at the Mint, highly polished dies were used, and consequently the coins bore bright surfaces." P. 22. For the 1902 coinage " it was decided that the best results would be obtained by the use of unpolished dies" (p. 22). I think that unpolished dies must have been used for the Coronation medals.

The demand for specimen sets of coins in 1902 was unprecedented :

sum of 10.081/. 11s. 3d. was realised. In 1893 the total number of complete sets sold was 773, in addition to 539 sets of silver coins only, represent- ing altogether 10,964 pieces, of a total value, in- cluding silver coins, of 9,763/. 2s. 6d."

In 1903, on the 31st of March, when the list of applications for specimen sets of the 1902 coinage

"was closed, although some applicants still re- mained unsupplied, the issue amounted to 14,935 sets, representing no less than 180,133 coins in all. of the value of 100,880^. 15s. 6d." P. 22.

The separate amounts of the complete sets (101.) and the incomplete sets (21. 12s. Qd.) are not given.

An addition to the Mint Museum is men- tioned, viz., a specimen of the medal given by Sir Augustus Prevost, Bart., to the officers and. men of the 25th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps (Bank of England), to commemorate the Coronation, which took place during his Governorship.

" The obverse represents the effigies of the King and Queen Alexandra, the reverse bearing the figure of Britannia (the Badge of the Bank of England) and an appropriate inscription." Pp. 23,

<*X

In the * Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Mint, 1904 ' (Parliamentary Paper Cd. 2588, 1905), is a statement giving particulars of the various coins, medals, &c., sent by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury to the St. Louis Exhibition, 1904 (pp. 20, 21). There is no mention of any Jubilee medal, although there was a com- plete set of Coronation medals (1546-1902), and even Board of Trade life-saving medals " bearing the effigies of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria and of His Majesty King Edward VII." I gather from the above, inter alia, that there was no special coinage in 1897, and that no medals were issued by the Mint in either 1887 or 1897.

The price of the Thirty-Third Report was Is. Id., and that of the Thirty-Fifth Is. 8d. The former could be got from Eyre & Spottiswoode, the latter from Wyman & Sons, Limited. Both reports have excellent plates, e.g., the latter has the Seal of the United Kingdom with the Common Seal, and the Counter-Seals of Ireland and Scot- land, &c.

P. S. King & Son, Orchard House, 2 and 4, Great Smith Street, Westminster, are dealers in second-hand and bygone Parlia- mentary papers. I have not the Reports for 1887 and 1897. ROBERT PIEBPOINT.

I have pleasure in informing BARRTJLE that the Scottish Patriotic Association, Glasgow, struck a Protest Medal, of which the following is a brief description :

Material. White aluminium.

Size. 1 inches in diameter.

Obverse. Bas-relief portraits of the King and Queen, and inscription : KING EDWARD

FIRST NOT SEVENTH OF BRITAIN AND THE

BRITISH EMPIRE. QUEEN ALEXANDRA.

Reverse. Bas-relief shield with Scoto- British royal quarterings, floral emblem with thistle, rose, and shamrock, and the