Lot 4126

Description

South Africa, 1895, railway medal in silver (44mm) by J.P.M. Menger. Virtually uncirculated and very rare in silver.

In contemporary leatherette fitted case. A medal to commemorate the opening of the railway line from Pretoria in ZAR to Delagoa Bay in Mozambique. By Johan Philip Mathias Menger, head engraver at the Royal Mint in Utrecht, Holland. Refer to Hern 16, Africana Museum 5 and Numismata Africana 1652-1952, p.24-25. The railway line was of great strategic importance to the ZAR fulfilling Kruger's ambition to enable trade between the ZAR and the rest of the world independently of Britain, especially in relation to gold export and the importation of arms.