Royal Gallery

Queen Victoria Jubilee Head Silver Crown, England

The obverse of the silver crown features Queen Victoria's Jubilee portrait, facing left and wearing the small diamond crown, commissioned by her in 1870. VICTORIA D : G : BRITT : REG : F : D appear either side of the portrait with the engraver's initials J.E.B. (Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1834-1890) on the queen's shoulder. The reverse pictures Benedetto Pistrucci's St George on horseback, slaying the dragon, together with the initials B.P. and the year 1890. The jubilee head design was used from 1887, for silver and gold coins only, and was continued until 1893. It was introduced for the golden jubilee (50 years) of Queen Victoria's reign. Royal portraits have been used on English coins for over 1000 years. The British Crown came into circulation in 1707, after the Union of England and Scotland, to replace the English Crown and Scottish Dollar. The value was set at 5 shillings. It measures 38 mm in diameter and weighs around 28 grams

© RIC, photographer Mike Searle

Order of the Bath (Military Class), 1869

George Frederick Stevenson Call was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in Queen Victoria's 1869 Birthday Honours. The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (formerly the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath) is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18th May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements. Awarded for‎: ‎Service, at the monarch's pleasure. The obverse and reverse of the medal is in the form of a silver gilt and white enamelled Maltese Cross with a silver-gilt lion between each of the arms (one lion is missing). The white enamelled centre bears three gilt crowns and a sceptre with a rose (for England), a thistle (for Scotland) and a shamrock (for Ireland). A red enamelled ring inscribed in gilt letters TRIA JUNCTA IN UNO (three joined in one) surrounds the centre within a green enamelled and silver-gilt laurel wreath. A blue enamelled ribbon sits below and is inscribed ICH DIEN (I Serve). The ribbon is crimson. TRURI : 1931.40.44

© RIC, photographer Mike Searle