The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals

BELGIUM, Union Internationale du Yachting Automobile, c. 1930, an Art Déco bronze award medal by G. Verbanck, naked male emerging from the waves, right arm oustretched, left arm holds a conch-shell, rev. arms with central propellor, named (Sport, M. Marcel Jalla, 1920-1933), edge impressed j fonson, 75mm, 120.08g. Extremely fine; in maroon gilt-blocked case by J. Fonson, Médailles d’Art [this partly damaged] £60-£80

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

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Marcel Jalla, was a secrétaire-général of the Yacht Moteur Club de France. The lobbying efforts of Sir Morton Smart, GCVO, DSO (1877-1956) a top London surgeon and a prime mover in the British Motor Boat Club, and John Ward, an expatriate Irishman living in Belgium, saw the formation of the Union Internationale du Yachting Automobile in Brussels in 1922. Belgian businessman Alfred Pierrard was its first President, serving until 1944, with Ward appointed Secretary. By 1927 it had acquired a permanent administrative base, circulated its first sporting rules and published its first racing calendar. Today the Union has morphed into the Monaco-based Union Internationale Motonautique.