Miscellaneous

Lot 326    Session 3 (2.30PM TUESDAY 18 MARCH)    Miscellaneous

Estimate $75,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au

RUSSIA, Imperial Crown Jewel, 1847, (48.43mm x 63.45mm), imperial court presentation jewel with brooch mount, comprising a central amethyst surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, within a gold oval ring with green enamel facings top and at both sides, with a double headed imperial eagle holding a sceptre and orb at the base, contained in it's original red presentation case with a silver plaque inscribed 'Presented by/ His Imperial Majesty/ The Emperor of all the Russias/ To/ D.J. Williams, Esq M.D./ Surgeon to H.I.M Yacht/ 'Queen Victoria'.

Provenance: ^David John Williams (1818-1902)^Cyril Gower Voss Williams (1861-1949) by descent from above.^Leonard Joel auction 21/7/1951.^John A, Hogan, Art Dealer (Malvern Fine Art) acquired from above.^Dr John Chapman acquired from above.^The current owner purchased from Noble Numismatics Sale 88 (2008), lot 741. ^^David John Williams was born in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, on 3 February 1818. He studied medicine in England and Scotland under some of the most renowned physicians and surgeons of the day, did his medical training at Guy's Hospital Medical School, and obtained medical qualifications of MRCS Eng. 1841, MD St Andrews 1842, LSA London 1845 and FRCS Eng. 1861.^From November 1842 to January 1845, he travelled extensively as Surgeon- Superintendent on the Thomas Sparks from London to Cape Town then to New Zealand, back to London, and thence on the Templar to Sydney and back to London. ^^Back in England he was examined for his LSA and approved in September 1845. On 24 August of the following year, he sailed from Cowes to St Petersburg, as Surgeon-Superintendent with a Welsh crew on the maiden voyage of the magnificently appointed and sumptuously decorated yacht Queen Victoria, so named by our gracious Queen at the special request of the Emperor, Tsar Nicholas I for whom it was built at East Cowes by the ship builder, Joseph Samuel White as a British diplomatic gift. Some days after its arrival and inspection by the Tsar (whom Dr Williams met and conversed with during the inspection), the yacht's captain, Mr Powell, was presented, Dr Williams wrote, with a splendid gold snuff box, set with diamonds, and the Mate and myself with a ring as presents from His Imperial Majesty. Following Dr Williams' return to England in late October of that year, the Tsar wrote to Queen Victoria asking her permission for him to be sent back, to which he agreed, and upon his return the Tsar appointed him as his personal medical officer and as surgeon to the Imperial Russian Navy. He then spent the summer months with the Tsar on aboard the Queen Victoria cruising the Baltic Sea, and the winter serving in hospitals in St Petersburg. For his medical services to the Tsar while on board the Queen Victoria, the Tsar personally presented Dr Williams with the Order of St Anne with diamonds and the rank of honorary surgeon in the Russian Navy. A contemporary photo depicts the jewelled gold brooch attached to the ribbon of the Order of St. Anne.^^Back in London in 1848 at 19 Dorchester Place, Shoreditch, Dr Williams practised as Physician and Accoucheur to the Queen Adelaide Hospital, published an article in the London Medical Gazette in 1849, and married his wife, Jane Voss, whose father was a banker, in Glamorgan, Wales on 1 October 1851. From Southampton on 10 February 1853, he sailed with his wife on board the barque Bride as the ship's Surgeon-Superintendent for Melbourne with 237 immigrants mostly young women, all of whom arrived safely and in good health in May. From there he first went into private practice, then as Medical Superintendent to the Quarantine Station at Port Nepean and later in August 1854, to Ballarat as District Surgeon. Whilst there he conducted inquests into the deaths of James Scobie, whose murder in October 1854 was one of the events that led to the Eureka rebellion that December, and later of Henry Powell, and as the Eureka camp doctor, attended to the wounded for which he received high praise.^ ^Dr Williams remained in Ballarat as coroner when the position of District Surgeon was abolished. He resigned in March 1855, visited England, and on his return settled in Queenscliff, serving first as Assistant Health Officer at the Heads, then as Health Officer. Whilst in Queenscliff he took an active part in civic and church affairs, being elected to the Borough Council, becoming its first Mayor and surgeon major in the Royal Victorian Volunteer Artillery. The enduring picture that emerges from contemporary sources, is of a doctor who was kind, attentive, and humane to all those who needed medical treatment, praised by ship's captains for his medical care, and held in high professional regard by his peers. In 1993 a piece of the original Eureka flag was found by Williams' descendants in a secret compartment of a box originally belonging to Dr Williams, and later donated to a Ballarat Museum.^^References: Gold Rush Doctors at Ballarat by K M Bowden, Mulgrave, 1977; Australian Medical Pioneers Index, Geelong Hospital Library; Society of Apothecaries of London: Archives; The London Illustrated News, 20 June and 29 August 1846; Diary of David John Williams on H.I.M. Yacht Queen Victoria (1846) and letters 1844-54: Queenscliffe Historical Society; The Argus 25 May 1853, Geelong Advertiser 29 June 1853, obit. 22 January 1902 and The Sentinel Queenscliff 25 January 1902; The Age 19 June 1951, The Argus 19 and 22 June 1951, The Age - Saturday Extra 28 January 1989; and information from Lucille V Andel, Peter Bennet, Dr John Chapman & Pam Simmons.^