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Auction 22007 18 Oct 2022
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Attempted Invasion of Scotland, AR Medal, 1708, by M. Brunner, ANNA • D : G : MAG • BR : FRA : ET • HIB : REGINA •, draped and laureate bust left, rev. • INIMICVS ODOR APPETITV FORTIOR •, an ass about to feed upon a thistle is driven away by a female figure interposing a rose, GALLI SCOTIAM AGGRESSVRI SOLO ANGLORVM ASPEC• TV FVGANTVR• 1708 in exergue in four lines, IN FELIX OPERAM PERDAS, VT SI QVIS ASELLVM IN CAMPVM DOCEAT, HOR : SERM : L • I • (star) on edge, 42mm, 33.63g (Eimer 429; MI ii 321/146; van Loon V, 100; Harding 48 this medal), a handful of hairlines and nailmarks to fields, otherwise with pleasing proof-like surfaces and richly toned, more so to the reverse, detail to the central devices most handsomely struck-up, extremely fine and very rare.
The act of Settlement in 1701 did not deter the House of Stuart from persisting in its attempts to regain the throne of England. It launched its first attempt at invasion in 1708. Scotland was selected for the landing since it was believed that considerable sympathy for the Jacobite cause still persisted there. The invasion force anchored off the Firth of Forth but a communications failure meant that there was no-one there to meet them.
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The following day an English fleet was sighted and the French ships cut their cables and sailed for Inverness, eventually returning to Dunkirk about three weeks after they set out. The reverse shows an ass (emblematic of Louis XIV) about to eat a thistle (Scotland), driven away by a female figure (England), wielding a rose. At the time naturalists thought that asses disliked the smell of roses. The legend reads: The French about to invade Scotland, are put to flight at the mere sight of the English. A further inscription around the edge of the medal suggests that it might be easier to train an ass to run a race than to get a foreigner to invade Britain.
Estimate: £500 - £800
The act of Settlement in 1701 did not deter the House of Stuart from persisting in its attempts to regain the throne of England. It launched its first attempt at invasion in 1708. Scotland was selected for the landing since it was believed that considerable sympathy for the Jacobite cause still persisted there. The invasion force anchored off the Firth of Forth but a communications failure meant that there was no-one there to meet them.
, ,
The following day an English fleet was sighted and the French ships cut their cables and sailed for Inverness, eventually returning to Dunkirk about three weeks after they set out. The reverse shows an ass (emblematic of Louis XIV) about to eat a thistle (Scotland), driven away by a female figure (England), wielding a rose. At the time naturalists thought that asses disliked the smell of roses. The legend reads: The French about to invade Scotland, are put to flight at the mere sight of the English. A further inscription around the edge of the medal suggests that it might be easier to train an ass to run a race than to get a foreigner to invade Britain.
Estimate: £500 - £800