SIR ROBERT ROBINSON'S MEDALS OFFERED

A Nobel laureate’s extraordinary group of awards and medals, including an extremely rare Order of Merit insignia, will come to auction on 6 December at the Sworders Winter Country House sale.

The group, which also includes a copy of the Nobel Prize Medal for Chemistry, belonged to Sir Robert Robinson OM FRS (1886-1975), the pioneering organic chemist, whose work led to the successful production of anti malarial drugs.

He was knighted in 1939 and awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1947, gaining the Order of Merit in 1949.

Two papers he published in the 1920s remain major source works today on ‘electronic theory’. The second of these introduced the curly arrow symbol as a device to represent electron movement in conjugated organic molecules. And he also invented the symbol now used for benzene.

Together the papers launched a major transition in the field of organic chemistry.

Sworders will offer, as a single lot, a group of more than 30 medals, honours and awards. They include Robinson’s George VI Order of Merit; the gilt medal copy of his Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1947; the Franklin Medal, 1947; the Faraday Medal, 1947; the French Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur; and his Knight’s Bachelor badge. The estimate is £6000-8000.

“Quite apart from the unique and astounding archive of material associated with one of the nation’s most brilliant minds from the last 100 years, the list of scientific honours included in this consignment would make it the pride of any institutional collection,” said Sworders director John Black.

“For independent collectors, too, the extremely rare chance to secure both the insignia of the Order of Merit and a copy of a Nobel Prize medal alone make this group an enticing prospect, but when you add the more than two dozen other outstanding awards, you really have to wonder whether anything else will ever come close.”

• George VI Order of Merit, Civil, with ribbon, cased, 1949,
• The Knight Bachelors Badge, cased,
• Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1947, gilt medal, copy,
• Longstaff Medal 1927, Chemical Society, cased,
• Davy Medal 1930, gilt medal, cased, and
• another silvered,
• Royal Medal 1932, gilt medal, cased,
• The Chemical Society Pedler Lectureship Medal 1936,
• Copley Medal 1942, inscribed to edge,
• John Scheuchzer Medal 1946, cased,
• Albert Medal 1947, inscribed to edge,
• Franklin Medal 1947
• Faraday Medal 1947, inscribed to edge, cased,
• Robert J Flintoff Medal, Chemical Society, 1960, cased,
• USA Medal of Freedom, cased,
• French Commandeur de la Légion dHonneur, cased,
• The Society of Chemical Industry Presidents Medal 1958-1959, cased,
• The Chemical Society Past President Badge, cased,
• Swiss Theophrastus Paracelsus Medal, Swiss Chemical Society, 1939,
• Scheuchzer Medal 1946, and a medallion,
• French Association Française pour lAvancement des Sciences, Caen, 1955
• Société Chimique de France Medal,
• Ville de Paris medal,
• Belgium University of Brussels medal, 1965,
• German Chemical Society Medal, 1957,
• Spanish Medal, 1970,
• Ghent Medal,
• Academia RPR enamel badge, cased,
• Dr Bimala Churn Law Gold Medal 1945, cased,
• Indian Association of the Cultivation of Science, cased,
• Japanese Order of The Rising Sun, neck badge and breast star, cased,
• Key to City of Bradford

To read the complete article, see:
A NOBEL LAUREATE’S EXTRAORDINARY GROUP OF AWARDS AND MEDALS (www.sworder.co.uk/Latest-News/a-nobel-laureate-s-extraordinary-group-of-awards-and-medals)

To read the complete lot description, see:
An important collection of medals and awards, given to: Sir Robert Robinson OM, FRS (1886-1975), ... (www.sworder.co.uk/A695-lot-37-An-important-collection-of-medals-and-awards-
given-to-Sir-Robert-Robinson-OM-FRS-1886-1975?
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