| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_884-1-1 AE |
| Subject | : | Dufferin's Viceroy Presentation Medal - India |
| Size | : | 51.3 mm |
| Metal | : | Copper |
| Year | : | 1884 |
| Description | : | obv. In centre the coat of arms of Lord Dufferin with supporters topped by an Earl's coronet, at bottom moto : PER VIAS RECTAS (The Right Way), around border : PRESENTED - BY - HIS - EXCELLENCY - THE - GOVERNOR - GENERAL. Signed : J.S. & A.B. Wyon SC., rev. Lord Dufferin's orders of Chivalry; in centre a chain, with five orders suspended from it, surrounding a heart in a crescent from which two flags extend. At top the coroner of an earl, around border : THE - EARL - OF - DUFFERIN - VICEROY - OF - INDIA - 1884.
This Viceroy presentation medal for India was the first since Sir John Shore’s (791.1), eighty-seven years previously, and the first in an unbroken succession of the next ten Viceroys. Unlike his Canadian Governor-General medal (Dufferin was Governor-General of Canada from 1872-78) that had the conjoined busts of the Earl and Countess by A.B. Wyon, he selected for the obverse his arms and supporters and, for the reverse, a crest, Earl’s coronet and orders. This medal was also used as a shooting prize medal (960.28.1 Vol. II), suspended from a blue ribbon, engraved on the edge with the name of the recipient. A smaller gold medal, 20 mm, was produced by the Calcutta Mint also for use as a shooting prize. The large size medal has not been traced in the Calcutta Mint records suggesting that it was probably made by Pinches.
Dufferin was Governor-General and Viceroy of India from December 1884 to December 1888. |
