Stack's Bowers & Ponterio
December 2015 Hong Kong Auction - Sess. A-C 8-9 December 2015
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
CHINA. International Plague Conference Silver Medal, 1911. CHOICE EXTREMELY FINE.
35 mm; 21.77 gms. Unlisted. VERY RARE. A highly unusual medal originally awarded to delegates of the International Plague Conference held in April of 1911 following the Manchurian Plague of 1910-11. The International Plague Conference lasted a month and was attended by 11 countries. Centered in Harbin, the epidemic went out of control until a joint effort of Russian missionaries and Chinese physicians intervened to stem the loss of human life, led by Cambridge educated Dr. Wu Lien-teh. At its height, 180 people a day were perishing in January of 1911, and the epidemic was finally stemmed by the mass burning of 4,000 corpses. The plague led to the foundation of systematic public health works in China, and brought China into the 20th century of medicine. Dr. Wu Lien-teh was later to become the first Malaysian Chinese nominated to receive a Nobel Prize in medicine in 1935. The obverse depicts a pair of dragons astride roses, with an extraordinary depiction on the reverse of the pneumonic plague virus in suspension among blood cells. Well preserved with light tone and with original ring for ribbon suspension. An unusual and highly historical piece that should draw considerable interest. CHOICE EXTREMELY FINE.
Estimate: $500.00- $700.00
35 mm; 21.77 gms. Unlisted. VERY RARE. A highly unusual medal originally awarded to delegates of the International Plague Conference held in April of 1911 following the Manchurian Plague of 1910-11. The International Plague Conference lasted a month and was attended by 11 countries. Centered in Harbin, the epidemic went out of control until a joint effort of Russian missionaries and Chinese physicians intervened to stem the loss of human life, led by Cambridge educated Dr. Wu Lien-teh. At its height, 180 people a day were perishing in January of 1911, and the epidemic was finally stemmed by the mass burning of 4,000 corpses. The plague led to the foundation of systematic public health works in China, and brought China into the 20th century of medicine. Dr. Wu Lien-teh was later to become the first Malaysian Chinese nominated to receive a Nobel Prize in medicine in 1935. The obverse depicts a pair of dragons astride roses, with an extraordinary depiction on the reverse of the pneumonic plague virus in suspension among blood cells. Well preserved with light tone and with original ring for ribbon suspension. An unusual and highly historical piece that should draw considerable interest. CHOICE EXTREMELY FINE.
Estimate: $500.00- $700.00