28 November 2022
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The Jerome J Platt Collection of 17th-century Medallions was sold for a hammer price of £187,200 at Mayfair Auctioneers’ Noonans on 23 November. Comprising 173 lots, the collection was expected to fetch upwards of £100,000 and 169 of the 173 lots were sold.
Dr Jerome J Platt, a professor of psychiatry and an Associate Dean at medical schools in the Philadelphia area, and his wife Arleen Kay Platt R.N., have been avid students of the English Civil War since the 1970s.
Together they have spent decades researching the medals and those behind them, sharing their findings with an eager audience via books and articles.
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Their collection comprised Tudor, Stuart and early Civil War medals together with badges and military awards, as well as examples from the Commonwealth and Cromwell, followed by others from the Restoration and later.
Medallions sold
The highest price of the collection was paid for an unsigned cast and chased gold Royalist badge from the reign of Charles I which sold for a hammer price of £20,000 against an estimate of £8,000-10,000.
Believed to be by Thomas Rawlins, the rare badge depicts the King with long hair and wearing a lace collar. It was bought by a UK collector and attracted a lot of interest despite having minor damage from the loops at the top and bottom being removed.
An extremely rare unsigned silver-gilt medal or military reward dating from 1645 depicting a half-length bust of Prince Rupert, possibly by Thomas Rawlins fetched £11,000 against an estimate of £4,000-5,000.
Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of Rhine (1619-82), was Duke of Bavaria, later Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness. He was the third son of King Frederick and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, grandson of James I, appointed General of the Horse in 1642, and gained for the Royalists the first victory of the war, at Worcester.
The medal had been sold as part of the famous Montagu sale in 1897 and was bought by a UK collector.
A very rare struck gold Peace or War medal with a bust of Charles I by Nicholas Briot dating from 1643 sold for £10,000 against an estimate of £2,000-2,600 despite having been plugged above the king’s head; it was bought by a UK collector.
Other auction highlights
Elsewhere, a very rare silver-gilt medal by Thomas Rawlins depicting the Death of Charles I in 1649 sold for £6,000 against an estimate £2,000-2,600 and bought by a UK collector [lot 42].
While a very rare silver medal of bearing an exceptional portrait of Charles II, Landing at Dover sold for £5,500 against an estimate of £1,200-1,500. Dating from 1660 by J. Roettiers, it was the cover lot of the sale and was bought by a collector from the USA [lot 138].
