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Rare Eighteenth Century Irish Gold Medal

Ireland, oval gold medal, Awarded by the Royal Dublin Society in 1762 , to William Stewart  of Co. Tyrone for growing oak trees. The obverse bears the design of the Royal Dublin Society, showing Minerva, often mistaken for Hibernia, seated with her head turned left, holding a spear in one hand, her other arm holding a cornucopia and leaning on a shield. The reverse is inscribed To William Stewart Esqr. Co. TYRONE, for sowing most ACORNS MDCCLXII.  Weight 23.84g. Extremely fine.
Estimate £700-800

The Royal Dublin Society, known as the Dublin Society until 1820 when George IV became patron, was founded in 1731 by members of the Dublin Philosophical Society for 'improving husbandry, manufactures and other useful arts.' As part of its work it issued a prize medal to applicants who demonstrated major improvements in husbandry. The first recorded issue of prize medals by the Society for growing oaks was on 4 June 1761, when it was decided to offer a gold medal
 'to the person who shall produce certificates of the most oaks growing from seed sown in not less than two acres and not less than a barrel of good sound acorns to an acre before 4 June 1761'.
 On 16 July 1761, it was ordered that the reverse of all medals given by the Society should 'be a plain surface on which the name of the person, date and occasion of giving the medal shall be engraved at the expense of the Society.' No record survives of who designed the medal, but it has been attributed to James Brush, who was enrolled as a quarter brother of the Goldsmiths' Corporation in Dublin in 1771. He is also known for two Orange Society medals and the Collooney Medal of 1798.

The first award appears to have been made in July 1761 to Benjamin and Joseph Houghton. The records for 1762-1764 have been lost and after 1761, the next recorded award was made in April 1764 to John Darley of Newry, Co. Down. The recipient of this 1762 medal was William Stewart of Killymoon. He was a dedicated social and agricultural improver. The great grandson of a 1619 Plantation settler, he inherited the Killymoon estate in Ulster in 1726. In addition to growing oaks he installed piped water for Cookstown and built weirs to provide power for its linen mills. He was a Member of Parliament for 21 years and raised a corps of artillery militia in 1779.  

This example is therefore among the earliest, possibly even the second awarded by the Society. The medals of the Royal Dublin Society were catalogued by A.E.J. Went, who noted three surviving examples of this medal in gold: one, awarded for growing saffron dated 1766, owned by the Royal Dublin Society; a second, for reclaiming bog, dated 1765, in the National Museum, Dublin; a third example, dated 1773, not awarded for agricultural improvement, was sold at Sothebys in July 1929 (Panter Collection), lot 153, for £7-10-0 (bought by Spink).

This newly discovered example of a rarely available and important Irish eighteenth century gold medal relating to agricultural improvement, pre-dates these and is the only one known for growing oaks. This medal has been in the Stewart family since it was awarded in 1762.

 It will be sold at Spink on November 27th, lot 466, estimated £700-£800

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