102049 | GREAT BRITAIN. Anti-Republican Sympathies white metal Medal.

102049  |  GREAT BRITAIN. Anti-Republican Sympathies white metal Medal. Issued 1795. "A cure for ills" (48mm, 52.21 g, 12h). By W. Whitley.

 

THE LAND WE LIVE IN AND MAY THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE IT LEAVE IT, GOD SAVE THE KING, crown above; below, domestic scene, with father holding tankard and playing with two children, while a mother is at a spinning wheel, and another child prepares a dinner table; all within wreath / A PHILOSOPHICAL CURE FOR ALL EVILS / LICENTIOUS LIBERTY IS DESTRUCTION / ABHOR EVIL CLEAVE TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD, decapitated French aristocrat standing left, pointing downward to left at his severed head; around, the severed heads of others, still bleeding from their necks, are attached to a rope, forming a wreath-like border; to inner right, the Devil, with horns, wings, and a pointed tale, urges on the aristocrat. Edge: Plain.

 

BHM 407; Eimer 869. Choice Mint State. Brilliant and quite attractive given the metal. Very rare, especially this attractive.

 

The execution of Louis XVI was an inflection point in European politics, and came just after the American colonies successfully achieved their independence. In the United Kingdom, partisans to the monarchy saw this "licentious liberty" exhibited to the south in France as abhorrent, with the still-recent loss of her aforementioned American colonies also making emotions run high. This sentiment comes through rather strongly on the medal here, which is essentially the late 18th century example of "if you don't like it, you can get out!"

 

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