Baldwin & Sons
Auction 101 28 September 2016
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS BY SUBJECT, Medicine / Science, Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), Nobel Prize winner, 1945, Cast Bronze Portrait Medal, c.1955, by Frank Kovaks (1895-1965), bust right wearing his customary bow tie, SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING – DISCOVERER OF PENICILLIN (last N reversed), 119mm, in black turned wood frame (cf BHM 4460, footnote). Extremely fine, believed to be a unique variety of an extremely rare medal.
This medal is probably the prototype for the slightly larger medal of which examples are in the collections of the British and Science Museums and the National Portrait Gallery on which his titles are acknowledged, "FRS MB BSc FRCS FRCP". It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1956.
Frank Kovaks (1895-1965), Hungarian-born portrait sculptor and medallist, he settled in Canada before moving to England, where he exhibited intermittently at the Royal Academy between 1938 and 1962. His uniface portrait medals were produced in very small editions. Kovaks sculpted a bust of Fleming for St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London.
Estimate: £300-400
This medal is probably the prototype for the slightly larger medal of which examples are in the collections of the British and Science Museums and the National Portrait Gallery on which his titles are acknowledged, "FRS MB BSc FRCS FRCP". It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1956.
Frank Kovaks (1895-1965), Hungarian-born portrait sculptor and medallist, he settled in Canada before moving to England, where he exhibited intermittently at the Royal Academy between 1938 and 1962. His uniface portrait medals were produced in very small editions. Kovaks sculpted a bust of Fleming for St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London.
Estimate: £300-400