Joseph Priestley

Inscriptionback to top

Obverse inscribed: JOSEPHUS PRIESTLEY. and below: PHIPSON FECIT
Reverse inscribed: MAGNUS CHRISTIANUS PHILOSOPHUS and: APR: VIII/BRITTANNIAE/LITORA LINQUENS/COLUMBIAM ADVENIT/JUNII IV/MDCCXCIV. with added inscription below: NATUS 13 MART.1733. MORT. 6 FEB.1804.

This portraitback to top

Phipson worked in Birmingham and doubtless knew Priestley. This medal was first struck to commemorate Priestley’s arrival in America in 1794, [1] the inscription being expanded on his death in 1804. A variant inscription (i decus i nostrum mel[l]ioribus utere fatis; Aeneid, VI, 546) is also recorded. [2] An indifferent engraving by J. Hopwood 1804 appears to derive from Phipson’s medal. [3]

Footnotesback to top

1) L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, no.381.
2) J. McLachlan, Joseph Priestley: iconography of a great Yorkshireman, 1983, p 53
3) Illus. J. McLachlan, Joseph Priestley: iconography of a great Yorkshireman, 1983, p 42.

Referenceback to top

Bolton 1892
H. C. Bolton, ‘The Likenesses of Priestley in oil, ink, marble and metal’, in Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley, 1892, p 190.

Brown 1980
L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, no.565.

Provenanceback to top

Presented by James Yates (see NPG 175) 1864.

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