Description

Anne, 1702-1714. Silver Medal n. d. (1707), 103.54 g. Union of England and Scotland. Unsigned, by J. Croker. Bust, crowned and draped. ANNA . DEI . GRATIA . MAG : BRITAN : FRA : ET . HIB : REGINA. Rv. Statue of Anne, as Pallas. NOVÆ . PALLADIVM . TROIÆ. Plain edge. 70.1 mm. Eimer 423. MI ii 298/115. van Loon IV, 349. Saunders/Vanhoudt 1702-18. Gutes vorzüglich / About Uncirculated. Feine Patina / Nicely toned.

From the auction Adolph Hess AG 263, Zurich, February 1994, lot 766.

The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the International Treaty of Union agreed on 22 July 1706, which politically joined the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into a single "political state", the Kingdom of Great Britain, with Queen Anne as sovereign of both Kingdoms. The English and Scots acts of ratification took effect on 1 May 1707, creating the new kingdom, with its parliament based in the Palace of Westminster.

This medal is placed by Van Loon and others amongst those which commemorate the Queen's accession, but, comparing the decoration of her person with that on other medals of about 1707 and 1708, there can be little doubt but that they were all struck about the same period.