PECULIAR PRIZES
Mike Roberts examines a selection of medals celebrating everything from musical talent to egg-laying trials!
In his regular guide to collecting ‘non-coins’, Mike Roberts examines a selection of medals celebrating everything from musical talent to successful egg-laying trials. No doubt the first owners were particularly proud of their achievements and their accomplishments need not be forgotten
In previous articles we have examined medals awarded as prizes for attending school on a regular basis, and for academic and sporting prowess. These have commemorated an achievement by the recipients, acted as an incentive to perform well (particularly if made of precious metal), and been a permanent record of youthful endeavour to be treasured, periodically marvelled over, or, more likely, discovered at the back of a drawer decades later in a house clearance following the awardee’s death. (Until recently my only sporting achievement was to swim the length of the local swimming baths at the age of seven; my ‘Learner’s Certificate’ was amongst my late mother’s treasures).
By its very nature, sport is a competitive activity and so medals to athletes are amongst those most frequently encountered. A number of these are illustrated, and serve to show the many ways in which we exercise and compete. Collectors tend to concentrate on a sport in which they have themselves participated (cricket seems to be particularly popular), or maybe collect by location. A warning, however. The boundaries between medals and badges is very blurred, and of course, there is nothing to stop us wandering off into the fields of other sport-related ephemera and memorabilia.
Prize medals for musical and other artistic performances present collectors with a wide choice. These are often dated and named to the recipient with results published in the local press. So it may be possible to trace the name of the recipient of the Harrogate Drama Festival 1953 Full Length Play Female Best Individual Performance medal, the play, and the role she took. Similarly, members of Meltham
Mills Band, who won first prize in the First Annual Brass Band Contest held in the newly opened Pamona Palace and Gardens, Manchester on 6 July 1874, and thereby won medals fashioned from silver pieces picturing the venue, would no doubt have had their success recorded in local newspapers.
The ‘Huddersfield Mrs Sunderland Festival’ has been held annually in the local Town
Hall since 1889. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious music competitions in the North of England, and amongst the ranks of sopranos and altos in the world famous Huddersfield Choral Society (of which Mrs Sunderland was a member) are to be found many competition winners. Susannah Sunderland was born in Brighouse in 1819 and became one of the most in demand soloists of her age. She sang before Queen Victoria, both in London and at the opening of Leeds Town Hall. She married in 1838, had six children, and retired from public performances at the age of 45. However, a special concert was held to celebrate her Golden Wedding, and with the money raised from this, an annual competition was created. Although originally only for singers, the range of musical, and later spoken word and theatrical categories, grew, to the extent that there are now dozens of trophies, donated by local musicians, music groups and businesses, awarded each year. Named silver medals are quite easily found, although many previously treasured specimens have no doubt been melted down over the years.
Whilst I was writing this article a fellow philatelist phoned. In passing, he mentioned that he was about to meet his grandchildren and that he had recently divided the academic medals he had won whilst at college (it appears he was the top engineering student in his year) amongst them. I could have commented that it was generally accepted that groups of medals should be kept together when possible, but I did not have the heart to do so, as the pride in his voice, reflecting the interest they had shown in his achievements over half a century earlier, was very clear. So, whether your interest is in butchery, bakery, or the manufacturing of candle sticks you should be able to find medals to collect.
Amongst the most attractive 19th-century prize medals are those awarded at agricultural shows. Larger than a Cartwheel Twopence, an 1853 copper medal of Keighley Agricultural Society is a fine example. It was presented to one Peter Middleton Esq for the 2nd Best Heifer Calf. Per-haps the winner received a silver example. A few years ago I acquired a small group of un-named Yorkshire medals from the early 1870s to someone who exhibited (or possibly raced) Roadster Show Horses. They are large, thin, uniface pieces, and are pierced for suspension, possibly around the neck of the winner (human or equine?)
Be honest. How much do you know about Egg Laying Trials? Yes, I thought so, and nor did I until I began researching a Yorkshire
Federation Laying Test medal ‘Awarded to Jim Ainley with pen of W. W. 1937 /38 Test’. Exactly what that means I don’t know but the ‘Farmers Weekly’ website pointed me towards a Poultry World publication surveying the history of 20th-century poultry production and I am now quite an expert. After the Great War many unemployed ex-servicemen were encouraged to take up agriculture and were offered special training courses and financial assistance, quite often in poultry production, as this was small scale and required modest capital out-lay (pun intended).
In the 1930s, to help with egg marketing and technological improvement, a number of Utility Poultry Societies were established, and numerous competitive laying trials were introduced. In Lancashire birds achieving more than 200 eggs over 48 weeks were issued with a certified copper ring, and a wide variety of medals in silver and base metal were awarded by other local and county bodies.
Apart from sport it is amazing in how many other ways we manage to spend our spare time. Within my collection I have numerous awards for long service to a variety of volunteering organizations, for baking cakes and growing vegetables, flying model gliders, winning photography competitions, sketching, painting, and catching fish. And those are all to participants residing in Yorkshire.
Surprisingly, medals for numismatist achievement are uncommon. Whilst the likes of the Royal Numismatic Society make awards, these tend to be for academic research, for publications, or lengthy service to the Society. Coin collecting is not, formally, a competitive hobby. In contrast, medals are awarded (sadly now mostly un-named) to our philatelic colleagues every time they enter exhibitions such as Stampex. A very attractive medal was issued for the International Exhibition held in London in 2010. On the occasion of my giving a lecture and display to The Royal Philatelic Society, London, I was presented with a ‘plaquette’ manufactured by Toye, Kenning & Spencer.
As proof that I had officially become an old man I joined my local lawn bowls club a few years ago. The Gents’ Triples team I bowled with on a Friday evening came top of the league in 2018. One of the team decided that this was worthy of commemoration and ordered three rather gaudy medals from an online site, which were duly presented by the Club President at the end of season pie and peas supper. It is treasured and periodically marvelled over and, even though it can hardly be described as aesthetically pleasing or representing the ultimate pinnacle of sporting achievement, I have no intention of confining it to the back of a drawer.