Lot 2209

Description

George III, Silver medal by Thomas Wyon for the Manchester Pitt Club. 49mm. Contained in a perfectly preserved neat glazed frame bound by a silver band, this medal is exquisitely detailed with frosted or matt surfaces beginning to tone at the periphery. Obverse: Draped, haughty bust of Pitt facing left. Reverse: Pitt cajoling Britannia to defeat anarchy emerging from the underworld. One of the best preserved examples of this medal extant, (Eimer 1039, BHM 771). Within a glass circular frame with attached suspension ring, extremely fine.

William Pitt the Younger was the youngest British Prime Minister on record, assuming the post at the age of 24 in December 1783. He entered Cambridge University at the age of 14 and became a Member of the British Parliament at 22. As Chancellor of the Exchequer or Finance Minister he was a great success, and the Tories and friends of King George III helped propel him to the Premiership. Having resigned in 1801, he returned as Prime Minister in 1804. He gained the support of the Russian, Austrian and Swedish leaders in an attempt to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte, but it is said that the news of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz in October 1806 contributed to Pitt's premature death aged 45, which was actually as a result of kidney failure caused by excessive drinking. Ironically, though he was a former finance minister, he was heavily in debt upon his death and Parliament raised ?40,000 (around $80,000) to pay his creditors. His greatest achievements were reform of the economy and the abolition of slavery.