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Auction: 25055 - British Medals and World Coins featuring The Hurter-Amman Collection of Ancient and European Gold
Lot: 717

Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, AR Medal, 1687, by G. Bower, MORIENDO • RESTITVIT • REM • E • GODFREY, draped bust right, being strangled with his own cravat by two hands, rev. ECCLESIA • PERVERSA • TENET • FACIEM • DIABOLI •, heads of the Pope and Devil conjoined to form one face, CERVICE • FFRACTA • FIDEM • SVSTVLIT • ATLAS • XNS • 1678 on edge, 38mm, 27.90g [430.56grns] (Eimer 259; MI i, 578/250), lightly bagmarked and with a softness to the tops of devices, with an accentuating ochre tone to uniformly grey surfaces, bolder very fine example of one of Bower's smaller yet artistically more interesting depictions of the subject

Provenance

The Craven Collection of British Historical Medals



Sir Edmundbury [or Edmund Berry] Godfrey (1621-78), Justice of the Peace for Westminster, was found dead under mysterious circumstances, Catholics having been accused of his murder. In 1678 Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had become involved with Titus Oates, the force behind the Popish Plot, which led into an anti-Catholic campaign.


The design of the reverse is taken from medals which were very common at the time of the Reformation, and of which the object was the same, to satirize and ridicule the followers of the Pope. The Popish Pot and the death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey contributed to excite determined hostility to the Papal power and influence.

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Estimate
£300 to £400

Starting price
£210