A Very Rare & Desirable.
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL
“1 JUNE 1794”
(The Glorious 1st of June)
To.
GEORGE GIBBONS,
HMS Venus.
(Frigate).

This is a fascinating medal.


There are two other men on the Admiralty Medal Roll called George Gibbons, both entitled to the clasp “Syria”.

One of these two Syria medals was sold by Sotheby’s in Feb 1912, and was apparently sold again in November 1995. The other medal has never been recorded for sale and based on low survival percentages it has probably not survived.

This leaves just one further medal to a George Gibbons which is listed for the 1 June 1794 clasp. A medal with this clasp was apparently sold by Glendining in February 1947 and is in the Douglas Morris collection at the R.N. Museum. We have not inspected this medal for its status & originality and it would indeed be interesting to do so.

After the very closest and experienced examination of our medal and in our professional opinion, this is either an official duplicate or double issue to George Gibbons, or, it is indeed the original medal itself as it’s quite clear that neither its clasp or suspension has ever been disturbed since its original construction in the late 1840’s, and as such the entire presentation, colour, texture and condition of the medal, and of the clasp and its suspension are absolutely concurrent and perfectly matching.

Also, the obverse die used in the striking of this medal exhibits the classic “small wide date” under Queen Victoria’s head which is often seen in combination with medals bearing the earlier clasps, and is not an obverse generally encountered on medals which bear the later Syria clasps.

Hence, this is certainly NOT a re-clasped Syria medal.

The medal also has a very excellent pedigree as it was offered and sold by the late-great John Haywood on his list of February 1972 with no caveats or other comments. Had this been a re-clasped medal, John Haywood would most certainly have described it as such.

It was subsequently listed and sold to our supplying client by Jäger Medals of Scotland in January 2025.

A Very Desirable “Glorious 1st June” Classic N.G.S.

£2550