Coins, Tokens, Historical Medals and Paper Money

Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts (Founded 1858), a silver award medal by S. Rosenthal and W.J. Taylor, named (Mlle. Titiens, Honorary Member, 1862), 51mm; Mercury, a silver Drawing Prize by J. Moore, named (Wilkinson Möller, 1884), 38mm; Tunbridge Wells Society of Arts, a silver award medal by Vaughton, named (1890, Mrs C.E. Hamilton, Class 13), 39mm; Mellin’s Art Competition, 1896, a silver award medal signed O.K, named (Amy Cockburn), 50mm; Edward Swann Oil Painting Award, a silver medal by Toye & Son, named (Ruth M. Orris…1982, for the Oilcolour Painting of the Year), hallmarked Birmingham 1977, 51mm [5]. Second about very fine, others good very fine and better, first toned £100-150

Provenance: J. Spencer Collection, DNW Auction M12, 30 May 2012, lot 12.

First only illustrated. Thérèse Titiens (1831-77), a leading opera and oratorio soprano; b. Hamburg; studied in Hamburg and Vienna; debuted at the Hamburg Opera House, 1849; moved to London, 1858, and was a constant performing presence at Her Majesty’s, Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres throughout the 1860s; her prima donna lifestyle and her affairs with a string of lovers, including the impresarios Benjamin Lumley and James Mapleson, were the talk of London, but unfortunately she died of cancer at the age of 46