Coronation medals in Britain might be considered similar to America’s inauguration medals.

They’ve just had a head start by several hundred years. 

Inside Coin World: Reader’s 1783 Nova Constellatio piece is a replica The “Readers Ask” column responds to a collector who owns what looks like a very famous and very rare U.S. coin from 1783.

One coronation medal, issued for the 1820 accession of George IV, is a highlight of Baldwin’s of St. James’s auction No. 21, scheduled for Sept. 26 during COINEX in London.

The sale of the Peter Earthy Collection features nearly 400 lots of coronation medals and related materials. 

What sets apart this 1820 gilt-silver medal is its setting, within a richly wreathed frame, surmounted by a crown and suspension loop, in a piece created by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell.

The medal shows a laureate and draped bust of George IV, wearing a classical armored breast-plate.

The reverse bears a legend within an open oak wreath fastened with the national flowers — rose, thistle and shamrock, a Hanoverian horse below. 

The medal is the first to incorporate the “patriotic device” of a bouquet of England’s rose, Scotland’s thistle and Ireland’s shamrock, a device it is believed, of the king’s creation. 

“Whilst not accepted in the true heraldic sense, the idea was indeed patriotic and was to be incorporated in many of his medallions as well as those of later monarchs,” according to the auction house. 

The device was used more noticeably in the State Diadem that bears the king’s name and which he wore for his coronation. 

The medal is presented in a maroon leather fitted case, lined with maroon silk and velvet. 

It has an estimate of £5,000 ($6,504 U.S.).

To learn more about the sale, visit the firm’s website. 

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