It is a unique joy to have a precious possession that has surpassed over 100 years, but this joy is due to the reason that it carries a certain historical background, which opens up a window to peek into the past.
The good thing is that I did not have to purchase it, but it came from my grandparents' heritage.
First of all, let's have a look at this beautiful shield-style medal to commemorate the past.
Commentary on the Front of Medal:
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| Front of the medal. | FC CUP Runners Up 1920 |
- The medal is topped with the Imperial State Crown, which symbolizes the royal authority.
- The rim of the medal is decorated with some sort of scalloped leaves, it is hard to recognize the name of the leaves, and also what do they represent?
- Famous Laurel wreath is embossed circling the etched text. The Laurel wreath symbol is commonly embossed on sports and gaming medals.
- The flower below the wreath might be a dogwood flower, and somehow it may have a link to the Olympic games or anything else, this requires further digging. If you guys know what it symbolizes, do write in the comments.
- Finally, the center of the medal has etched text which reads "F.C. CUP RUNNERS UP, then there is a line break with 2 opposing arrows, 1920".
Commentary on the Back of Medal:
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- Anchor is the town mark of Birmingham, which denotes that assaying of the piece was done in that town.
- Lion Passant is a standard mark for sterling silver with 925/1000 purity.
- "s" is the date letter mark, it denotes the year in which the piece was created or made.
- 'W.O.' is the maker's mark, it may either denote the silversmith's name and surname initials or two letters from the surname only. William Osborne could be the maker of this medal according to Silvercollection.it website.
Origin of the F.C. CUP:
I have dug into all popular search engines, but could not find any information which even links to the 1920s FC CUP event. Currently, there is no knowledgeable source to be mentioned here, maybe a physical check of records in the assaying office might provide something valuable, and that is out of the question for now. So, let's keep it that way, a mystery.
If any of the readers here know anything about the 1920 FC CUP event, kindly write something about it in the comments section. Any help will be highly appreciated.
Endnote:
I am able to write this post after reading silver/gold collection stories posted in #LeoFinance by @trumpman, thanks to him for being the inspiration. Anyone who has a similar interest can visit his profile and read the amazing stories he shares here on Hive.
If you are into poetry do visit my recent poetic post, The Sunset by the Beach Haiku
Original written work and all images belong to the author emaxisonline.