Newly listed in this auction as of Thursday, August 25th, is this incredibly scarce bronze winner's medal from the London 1908 Summer Olympic Games. It was awarded to a member of the British men’s pistol shooting team, which took third place in the 50-yard Team Revolver event on July 11, 1908. Great Britain garnered 1,817 points to finish behind the champion U.S. squad (1914 pts.) and runner-up Belgium (1863). The British team members were Jesse Wallingford, Geoffrey Coles, Henry Lynch-Staunton and William Ellicott, the latter also winning a silver medal in the team single-shot running deer event. The Brits dominated these Games on their home soil by winning a total of 146 medals, well ahead of USA (47) and Sweden (25). It is the only time GBR has ever finished atop the Olympic medal table.
Winners’ medals from the 1908 Olympics were and still are the smallest and most meticulously crafted in the history of the modern Olympiad. Made of pure bronze and minted by Vaughton & Sons of England, they measure 33 mm across, 2 mm thick and weigh just 19 grams. (The 1936 Winter Olympics had the largest winners’ medals ever produced and one is listed in Lot 667 of this auction.) Designed by Bertram Mackennel of Australia, the obverse has a victorious athlete being crowned with a laurel wreath by two seated females, with "Olympic Games, London 1908” below. The reverse has St. George, the patron saint of England, slaying a dragon with a winged goddess in the background. It does has some oxidation spots on the back side, but the front remains relatively unblemished with all raised imagery and letters defined exceptionally well.
A unique feature on these 1908 medals how the narrow edge is so delicately engraved with the place ("Third Prize”), minter hallmark, material (“BRONZE”), and name of event (“Revolver - Teams - 50 Yards”). You can count on one hand the number of Olympics in which either the place or the event is inscribed on a winner’s medal, let alone both. (Also in this auction is one of the few winners’ medals inscribed with the recipient’s name, a silver from 1920 Antwerp in Lot 666). A total of 260 bronze medals were struck at these Games, making this rare opportunity to acquire one at auction. The perfect memento to honor Great Britain's first time hosting the Olympics and only time winning the most medals.