The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals (Part I)

BELGIUM, Centenaire du Raffinerie Tirlemontoise, 1938, a bronze plaque by D. Ledel for Fonson, view of the sugar refinery, townscape at left, rev. dockworker carrying sack from a cart, ships in background, edge impressed j. fonson, 77 x 66mm, 181.87g (cf. Rauch 95, 2198). Good very fine, dark patina £30-£40

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals.

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The Raffinerie Tirlemontoise, founded in May 1836 by Jozef van den Berghe de Binckum (1804-72) and Pierre-Antoine van den Bossche, became a public company in September 1887. The Wittouck family, who ran the refinery for almost 100 years, sold it in 1989 for the equivalent of 1 billion euros. The 1838 date on the plaque probably represents the year that the factory mastered trials of slicing sugar beet.