Lot 773
Sale 106 · Important Australian & World Coins, Tokens, Medals & Banknotes
Images
Description
Acclimatization Society of France, in silver (51mm) by Althie Dubois inscribed to 'Sir Samuel Wilson/Pisciculture/1879'. Good extremely fine.
Awarded for breeding of Angora goats and the experimentation with ostrich farming. Sir Samuel Wilson (1832-1895) was born in Ireland and moved to Victoria in 1852. He was a pastoralist and politician whose vast holdings of land and stock had never been seen before in Australia. He worked with the Acclimatisation Society and donated 30,000 pounds to the University of Melbourne to build the gothic Wilson Hall. Governor Sir George Bowen, in recommending him for a baronetcy in 1874 estimated Wilson's annual income as almost one million pounds. He retired to England in 1881, where he continued his political work before dying in 1885.
Ex Noble Numismatics Sale 80 (lot 625) and Bentleigh Collection.
- Estimate
- $5,000
- Result Status
- Passed in