Lot 2898

Description

The Halloran School Medal, 1826 awarded to J(oshua) F(rey) Josephson, an engraved silver medal by Samuel Clayton (70mm), (36.0 grams), obv. an allegorical scene of Minerva leading a schoolboy, the temple of Fame and a church in the background, legend around ARDUA PRIMA VIA EST SED FIT LABOR IPSE VOLUPTAS (At first the way is hard but labour itself becomes a pleasure) and signed 'S.Clayton Delt. et Sculpt.' rev. legend in eleven lines, INGENUO,/ MAGNAEQUE SPEI ADOLESCENTI/ J.F. Josephson/ PROPTER INSIGNES IN ARTIBUS/ PROGRESSUS SIGNUM HOC/ HONORARIUM/ DEDERUNT PRAESES,/ et Curatores/ Gymnasu Australasialici/ A.D. 1826./ AEt 11/ (upright young man of great future J.F. Josephson, on account of his distinguish progress on his studies... 1826 age 11). Very fine and very rare, one of the earliest of Australian medals extant and executed by the finest silversmith in the colony at the time.

This is the sixth of these medals to be discovered, the others being awarded to Robert Campbell (1819), Francis Lord (1822), Charles Driver (1823), Henry Halloran (1824) and the example in Spink Australia Auctions Sale 24 (lot 1018) awarded to William Campbell (1823). See extensive description of this medal type in that sale and also the published account in - The Journal of the Australian Numismatic Society, 1982, 'Sydney Grammar School Medal 1819-1824' by L. Carlisle (p.2-9). The recipient Joshua Frey Josephson (1815-1892) was a businessman and judge. He was born in Hamburg, Germany. His father arrived in Sydney in May 1818 as a convict sentenced to fouteeen years for having forged Å“1 notes in his possession. His mother and he arrived in 1820 to join his father. He was an accomplished pianist, flautist and vocalist and was the first honorary organist at St. Peter's Church, on the Cook's River. He became a solicitor in 1844 and elected to Sydney City Council in 1844 for Cook ward and soon became the mayor of Sydney (1848) and a J.P. His other activities included becoming a founding member of St.Paul's College at the University of Sydney and a business associate of T.S. Mort. He also established the Sydney Dry Dock Co., the Hunter River Railway Co., and the Sydney Insurance Co. In 1855 he was admitted to the New South Wales Bar as a barrister. In 1862 he became a land titles commissioner under the new Real Property Act and consequently invested heavily in real estate throughout N.S.W. He entered the Legislative Assembly for Braidwood in 1864 and became Solicitor-general in the Robertson government. He became a judge from 1869 resigning in 1884 to be more active in his private affairs. He left many of his statues that he collected to the New South Wales Art Gallery.