Sporting & General Medals, Badges & Awards - Miscella

Lot 2397    SESSION 9 (9.30AM WEDNESDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER)    Sporting & General Medals, Badges & Awards - Miscellane

Estimate $1,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au

SECRETARY FOR CROWN LANDS, New Zealand, a uniface struck impression on a British Queen Victoria copper penny of 185(3), (36mm), pierced at top for suspension, possibly an ID tag or a trial piece, possibly the work of Anton Tuetenberg, Auckland (see note below). Very fine.

From the pen of Jim Duncan, Auckland.

ANOTHER NEW TEUTENBERG PIECE ?
We'll probably never know, but there certainly is a good possibility that it is. The item is a copper (not bronze) penny of Victoria's reign, which has been used as a flan for a trial of an oval seal. The coin measures c36mm, and the seal measures 28 x 32mm, so it is a horizontal oval. (28mm was his favourite medal size!)

The seal is composed of the Royal Arms of Great Britain - the Lion and Unicorn with a crowned oval shield between them. They stand on a ribbon which probably said DIEU ET MON DROIT, but this is too worn to read now. (The piece probably grades Fine to Very Fine) The legend around the top is SECRETARY FOR CROWN LANDS and around the bottom is NEW ZEALAND. It has been holed at the top, and curiously, the punch which made the hole was square, since the reverse of the penny has a square hole and the obverse a round one with a raised edge. It is still possible to see V - - - T O R - - with the hole through ICT, and GRATIA in full at the bottom. Tantalisingly, outside the letters CRE of Secretary the digits of the original date almost appear, only sufficiently enough to say it was probably an 1853, 1855 or 1859 coin.

The reverse, which should have the seated Britannia has absolutely no vestige of anything - no lettering, nothing. There is ink or pencil graffiti on the back, but it is not legible, and cannot be connected with the front, in my opinion. There are two clamp marks on the rim where the piece was held in, probably, a vice, although why it needed a vice I do not know, given the total obliteration of the reverse.

When first I saw the piece on my computer I was not convinced that it was by Teutenberg, but now that I have handled it, and photographed it, I feel there is a very good likelihood that it is.

My curiosity regarding the title Secretary for Crown Lands took me to Google, where I discovered a series of articles in 'The New Zealand Railways Magazine' of May 1934, about Alfred Domett. Aucklanders will probably recognise the name Domett Avenue in Epsom. It seems that Domett emigrated from England to Nelson in 1842, was found to have some administrative ability and became Colonial Secretary for part of the North and all the South Island. He later became a Magistrate in Napier, then returned to Nelson where he was elected to the Provincial Council and then to the General Assembly. In 1862 Sir George Grey asked Domett to form a Ministry, and he was in office as Prime Minister for about a year, in 1863. On resigning in c1864, he was appointed Secretary for Crown Lands, and sat on the Legislative Council. This meant he wore two hats - a senior civil servant, and a member of the Legislature. In 1870 a disqualifying Act was passed preventing this - with a special clause exempting Alfred Domett. Teutenberg arrived in New Zealand in 1866, which is good timing. Domett returned to England in 1871 at 60 years of age, and was awarded the C.M.G. in 1880. He died in 1887. As a hobby he wrote poetry. One of his other 'leisure' activities while in New Zealand was to do the foundation work for what we now know as the General Assembly Library. Curiously, this unusual piece was found in Napier! (The magazine piece does not say where he was domiciled as Secretary).

We cannot say that this "trial" piece was for a seal for Alfred Domett, but we can say that there are circumstances which make it possible. It joins a group of pieces about which we know something and must guess other things. Keeps life interesting!

With research.