Egypt, The Overland Route to India Protected, 1840, a copper medal by A.J. Stothard, bust of Mehmet ‘Ali Pasha facing three-quarters left, wearing full beard and fez, rev. from the committee, the friend of science commerce & order who protected the subjects and property of adverse powers and kept open the overland route to india, 1840, 58mm (BHM –; Pudd. 842.2 [with signature as per Puddester’s not regarding the silver medal]; Dogan 6504; BDM V, 696). Good very fine, brown patina, very rare £800-£1,000

Mehmet Ali Pasha, Albanian commander and administrator in the Ottoman army, Governor of Misr (Cairo), elected 1805, Sudan (which he conquered 1822-3), Filistin, Suriye, Hicaz, Mora, Tasoz and Girit. Later he occupied Syria, 1831-40. He is regarded by some as the founder of modern Egypt and facilitated the overland mail route for Britain, between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea