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Mint:
London
Artist:
Gillick, Ernest George
Artist:
Saulles, George W. de
Ruler:
Edward VII (1901-10)
Ruler:
Edwardvs VII Kaisar-i-Hind
(With the title of)
Tibet, on the frontier between the British possessions in India and the sphere of interest of expanding Russia, evoked the same kind of international political paranoia among British strategists as did the Indian North-West Frontier, and after a trade mission in 1903 had met with a hostile reception there a British expedition was sent that forced its way through to Lhasa, where new and more favourable trading arrangements were decided on in collaboration with the Chinese. Although the Dalai Lama of the time had fled to Mongolia at the British approach, the secular officials who agreed on the Treaty were able to confine the British to the city of Gyantse until 1944.
Some of the most vicious fighting on the British expedition was met with in and around Gyantse, and the bar that this medal bears acknowleges participation in that fighting, by Subadar Jangbir Rana, of the 8th Gurkha Rifles, to whom this medal was awarded. His exploits in this theatre also earnt him the Indian Order of Merit. It is one of four medals that were awarded to him that are now in the Watson Collection, including the Order of Merit; the others precede and follow. The medals are not attached to each other so although the Watson Collection catalogue considers them as Group 3 they have been treated separately here. Nonetheless, it was as a group that Lester Watson purchased them from the dealer Gifford, in 1928.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Gifford 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36.8 mm
Weight: 44.65 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
Production date: AD 1905
Inscription present: Bust of Edward facing left
Inscription present: Fortress of Potala Lhassa atop mountain ridge
Accession number: CM.1484-2009
Primary reference Number: 141580
Watson Catalogue: 369
Ordering: M-0369
Previous object number: LW.0361c
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Tibet Medal" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141580 Accessed: 2024-12-18 13:01:48
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141580
|title=Tibet Medal
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-18 13:01:48|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-141580
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0361c_281_29.jpg"
alt="Tibet Medal"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Tibet Medal</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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