Today, our featured item on our online shop is this magnificent 1894 Tower Bridge Opening Medal designed by sculptor and medallist, Frank Bowcher (1864 -1938), commissioned by the Corporation of London. This bronze medal is in extremely fine condition, with a hint of a carbon spot on the reverse at the base of the left side of the bridge. This piece was oiled a while back and is quite stable.
Sculptor and medallist, Frank Bowcher was one of the select group of founder-members of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, and a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy. His career took off after he produced a medallic portrait of the Khedive of Egypt in 1886. In the following year the Royal Mint commissioned him to produce designs for the Egyptian coinage. After that he received various commissions — "from the City of London for the Visit of the King and Queen of Denmark, the Opening of Tower Bridge and the Diamond Jubilee; from the Geological Society for the Joseph Prestwich medal; and from the Royal College of Science for the Thomas Huxley memorial medal."
The Tower Bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894,. It was designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry. The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and is one of five London bridges owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust founded in 1282. The bridge was constructed to give better access to the East End of London, which had expanded its commercial potential in the 19th century. The bridge was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra, Princess of Wales in 1894.
Reverse with view of Tower Bridge.
Obverse showing crowned bust of Queen Victoria, between the Prince and Princess of Wales.
