Description

George I. 1714-1727. Silver Medal 1719, 49.50 g. Princess Clementina, Escape from Innsbruck. By O. Hamerani. Bust, draped. CLEMENTINA . M . BRITAN . FR . ET . HIB . REGINA. Rv. Clementina hurriedly departing in a carriage; Rome in the distance. FORTVNAM . CAVSAMQVE . SEQVOR. In exergue: DECEPTIS . CVSTODIBVS . MDCCXIX. Plain edge. 47.8 mm. Eimer 484. MI ii 444/49. Hutten-Czapski 5960. Gutes sehr schön / Good Very Fine. Felder etwas bearbeitet / Fields slightly tooled.

From the auction Münz Zentrum Albrecht + Hoffmann GmbH 46, Köln, April 1982, lot 2919.

Maria Clementina Sobieska (18 July 1702 - 18 January 1735) was a titular Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland by marriage to James Francis Edward Stuart, a Jacobite claimant to the British throne. She was also the granddaughter of the Polish King John III Sobieski.

George I of Great Britain was opposed to the marriage because he feared that the union might produce heirs to James Francis Edward's claim to his thrones. To placate him, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (and Maria Clementina's own maternal first cousin) had her arrested while on her way to Italy to marry James Francis Edward. She was confined in Innsbruck Castle but managed to escape to Bologna, where, for safety from further intrusions, she was married by proxy to James, who was in Spain at that time.