TOPIC:

Hello Fellow Collectors

I am new to this forum in terms of posting. I have been a collector of Medals, Medallions and memorabilia for many years. Some on the forum members will know me. I decided to do a posting of some items in my collection with this being the first one.

Some time back I acquired a medallion from a dealer in Netherlands. The medallion in is known as The Nilsson Plaque of 1900. The medallion is uniface and was issued by France.

The mintage of the Medallion is as follows:

800 Medallions in Bronze were struck
200 Medallions in Sliver Plate were struck
4 Medallions in solid Silver were struck

The 4 medallions in silver were issued to the following people

1. President Paul Kruger
2. Mr Cheminais (Who was the distributor)
3. Messrs. Sevin & Rey (Who were the publicists)
4. Mr Svante Nilsson (Who was the Artist)

Medallion Details

METAL: Silver/Silver Plate/Bronze
MEASUREMENT: Height 50mm, Width: 40 mm, Uniface
The bust of President Kruger slightly to the front facing left, in a circle. An oak branch with a ribbon tied to the stem. In the top corner the inscription: "PRESIDENT/KRUGER" and in the left bottom corner "EENDRACHT MAAKT MAGT" (Unity is Strength) "Depose" in small letters in the right hand corner.
Artist: Beneath the bust on the left the artists name "S.Nilsson" is engraved.
OCCASION: The plaque was, through the initiative of M Cheminais, an industrialist, sold through the good offices of Messrs, Sevin & Rey. Mr Felix Rey, brother of the latter, presented a silver specimen to President Kruger in Dijon. The plaque was completed in a week, whilst President Kruger was travelling in France, and was struck by the Paris firm of Janirez.

The medallion was done by Artist Svante Nilsson who was a young Scandinavian engraver. He engraved several medals and plaques which were exhibited on the annual Paris show for Plastic Arts as well as the World Exhibition in 1900. The artist made this plaque while President Kruger travelled through France and was done in a rush and completed within one week. It was produced by the studios Janirez Of Masion de Commerce, Paris. The distribution was undertaken by Cheminias, a business man and Sevin & Rey were responsible for the publicity. In designing this plaque, Nilsson was inspired by photographs taken on Kruger’s visit to Europe ten years before, which explains the much younger Kruger on the plaque. The plaque was firstly intended as a mark of honour to Kruger, but the artist aimed at the same time to pay tribute to the Swedes who fought and fell so bravely on the battlefields in South Africa. A commando of 52 Swedes was wiped out at Magersfontein by the English. Only six Swedes survived that battle and Nilsson wanted to commemorate the bravery of his fellow countrymen.

As the medallion displayed no sign of a silver hallmark, it was difficult to ascertain if it was indeed silver. A few prominent dealers who looked at the medallion during the Durban coin show indicated that it felt and looked like silver rather than silver plate. Further investigation revealed that the Natural Cultural History Museum was not in possession of the silver one given to President Paul Kruger as it was not part of the Dordrecht Collection sent to South Africa from France sometime in the 1920’s. The one in the museum collection is a silver plated one purchased some time later. Mr. Peter Wilson, a prominent numismatist and a close friend of mine also examined the medallion and he was convinced that the medallion is indeed silver. After much investigation and thoroughly studying the medallion, we noticed a small indent on the right hand rim of the medallion. This looked more like a nick on the rim. Under high magnification the picture suddenly changed and what looked like a nick now looked like a punch mark. Further investigation revealed that the punch mark is the silver hallmark for France called the Boars Head. It is seen on French silver jewelry, the most often-seen mark is the boar’s head, the mark of the Paris Assay Office, indicating a fineness of 800 or higher on small articles (such as jewelry). This mark was in use from 1838 to 1961. Prof Michael Laidlaw did the Archimedes test on the medallion and it proved that the Medallion was finer than .900 silver, probably .9500 silver. This is indeed a wonderful find and a breakthrough for South African numismatics as one of the four silver medallions has finally surfaced. The question on everyone’s mind at the moment is, whose medallion is it? Could this be the one that was given to President Paul Kruger in 1900?

Regards
Anthony Govender

Hi Anthony

Welcome to this forum and for sharing a wonderful find with us. I look forward to seeing more posts from you.

Regards
Brett

Thanks Brett

If anyone has a Silver Plate Nilsson Plaque and want to sell, please PM me.

Thanks

I have uploaded the Bronze variety of the Nilsson Plaque



Anthony Govender

I have no idea about this until i read your post... It would be helpful if you share some more information with us.