Enigmatic uniface of the Eton College Pelham Prize Medal by William Wyon.

The Duke of Newcastle / Eton College Pelham Prize, 1832, uniface "trial" medal / "artist's proof" / "specimen" by William Wyon, made using the electrotype process, head of the Duke of Newcastle right, trace of inscription lower left, 34mm (cf BHM 1646). About extremely fine.

The accompanying ticket reads, "Artists (sic) proof by W. Wyon of head of [blank] for a medal. Bt of Parsons(?) 2/11/33 1/-"

The Wyon Family kept a specimen collection of their own work, examples from which have been sold publicly and are also part of the permanent collections of The British Museum, The Ashmolean Museum, The Fitzwilliam Museum and elsewhere. Those medals originally kept by the family, as well as being of exceptional quality, are numbered on the edge though the meaning of that numbering system has not been deciphered. For modern day collectors, the Wyon family's work represents some of the rarest and most sophisticated antique collectibles, but it is worth remembering that the Wyons were professional, commercial medallists during their own lifetimes. British Museum acquisition numbers 2019,4075.1.a; 2019,4075.1.b; 2019,4075.1.c; 2019,4075.1.d represent four uniface "specimen" medals mounted in a frame which were exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition, in 1939, by Allan Gairdner Wyon. They are proof-of-concept pieces which were designed for display but also to advertise Allan Gairdner Wyon's work to potential clients. This general practice is presumably something that previous members of the family might have employed in the preparation and advertising of their own work. The present piece is significantly earlier than those described above and appears to have been made using the electrotype process. There is a trace of fibre on the reverse from mounting. It is presumably some form of demonstration of the medal's obverse, perhaps even for advertising purposes, and is an enigmatic component of William Wyon's work and perhaps also of the history of Eton College.