Centennial International Exhibition medal 1888

Summary

The city's numismatic collection holds a bronze medal from the Centennial International Exhibition, marking the centenary of the First Fleet's arrival. Like other medals of the time, the obverse of this one has a portrait of Queen Victoria in full royal regalia. The reverse has a wreath composed of wattle, representing Australia, and oak, representing England, tied with a true-lovers' knot. At the wreath's centre, the Southern Cross is encircled by Latin text that reads 'Artibus dignis honor insignis' (To the deserving arts distinguished honour). The date '1888' appears as Roman numerals beneath the wreath. Very small text to the left of the date reads 'Melbourne Mint', and to the right 'Stokes & Martin S.C.'; the initials 'C.V.' appear just below the ribbon of the wreath. Ernst Altmann, the engraver that designed the Adelaide Jubilee medal the previous year, submitted a medal design and this was selected, but the mint was unable to strike his design. So, Deputy Master George Anderson engaged Stokes & Martin to engrave new dies. As a good numismatist knows, there are three sides to every medal: the obverse, the reverse and the edge. An examination of the edge of any medal frequently reveals who the medal was awarded to. Although Melbourne City Council did enter an exhibit in the Centennial International Exhibition, it was unsuccessful in winning an award. So, whose medal is this? The first clue is in the name 'R. Matthews' engraved on the edge. The exhibition award reports show that R Matthews of Gundagai was awarded a first order of merit for his 'mounted microscopic specimens of local plants'. Interestingly, the first order of merit took the form of a silver medal, and, as can be seen, the one in the collection is bronze. Further, there is a report in the 'Gundagai Times', dated 7 March 1890, that states 'Mr. R. Matthews, chemist, received his award - a silver medal - the other day from the Melbourne Exhibition of 1888'. This means the medallion in the Art and Heritage Collection was probably engraved in error, and so was not issued. This text is excerpted from Darren Burgess' essay 'City of Melbourne Numismatic Collection', available in full through the 'Explore' tab above.