MEDAL OF SMALLPOX PIONEER EDWARD JENNER

A topical medal for the present time

Baldwin's of St. James's have held, during the last few years, a number of specialised sales of historical and commemorative medals. Their electronic auction to be held on March 17th is to include a small portrait medal of much significance to the present Covid dilemma. It is a small portrait medal of Edward Jenner (1749–1823), the pioneer of the smallpox vaccination. It was struck in Germany by Friedrich Wilhelm Loos and is dated 1796, the year when it all began when Jenner inoculated his gardener's son with smallpox taken from a local milkmaid. When, a couple of months later, he was inoculated again, the boy showed no signs of illness and was immune to smallpox. Today, Public Health England might have something to say about such methods! The Royal Jennerian Society, later the National Vaccine Establishment, was founded in 1803.

The DNB tells us, Jenner "corresponded with and was received by George III and Queen Charlotte, and by the Prince of Wales. He was received in London by the Tsar and the King of Prussia, and he corresponded with Napoleon".

The medal, modestly estimated at £100-150, has a powerful image on its reverse, a winged and scaled demon blows his poisonous breath towards the crouching figure of Hygeia, who is protecting a child with her shield, on which is the image of a cow. Loos was to make two differing medals of Jenner, the other a little larger than this. At a time when medals were being made to commemorate worthy naval heroes, politicians and theatrical figures, it does seem odd that there is no British medal nor indeed a Wedgwood plaque of him. As with so many medals, this piece serves no purpose other than to commemorate a great man, though it has been suggested they might have been offered to children who received the inoculation.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: MAY 17, 2020 : Smallpox Vaccine Developed (May 14, 1796) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n20a16.html)
NUMISMATIC COMMEMORATIONS OF VACCINATION (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n05a25.html)

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