Bermondsey Coins
British tokens, Earl of Shaftesbury acquitted of High Treason, silver medal by G. Bower, 1681
British tokens, Earl of Shaftesbury acquitted of High Treason, silver medal by G. Bower, 1681
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British tokens, Earl of Shaftesbury acquitted of High Treason, a struck silver medal (41 mm) by G. Bower, 1681. Bust of Antony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury right/City-view of London.
Shaftesbury was accused of treason due to his efforts to exclude the future James II from the line of succession to the throne. The case was politically motivated and very weak; ironically, Shaftesbury actually turned traitor in the aftermath, encouraging a revolution and the assassination of James II, and died in exile in Amsterdam.
This is the notorious "Polish Medal", struck by Shaftesbury's supporters on his acquittal and release from imprisonment in the Tower, and parodied by Dryden in "The Medal", which begins:
Of all our antic sights and pageantry
Which English idiots run in crowds to see,
The Polish Medal bears the prize alone;
A monster, more the favourite of the town
Than either fairs or theatres have shown.
Never did art so well with nature strive,
Nor ever idol seemed so much alive;
So like the man, so golden to the sight,
So base within, so counterfeit and light.
One side is filled with title and with face;
And, lest the king should want a regal place,
On the reverse a tower the town surveys,
O'er which our mounting sun his beams displays.
The word, pronounced aloud by shrieval voice,
Loetamur, which in Polish is Rejoice,
The day, month, year, to the great act are joined,
And a new canting holiday designed.
almost EF, a few marks, attractive old tone. Rare.
MI 583/259; Eimer 261
ex-Davissons auction 22 (28 April 2005), lot 336
