Description

Victoria, 1837-1901. Gold Medal 1896 (awarded 1906), 243.27 g. Royal Institute of Public Health, Prize Medal. Unsigned. Helmeted, four-field family coat of arms (Harben), below inscription band with SVMMIS VIRIBVS, below the year 1896. FOUNDED . BY . HENRY . HARBEN . KT . FOR . THE . RECOGNITION . OF . EMINENT . SERVICES . TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. Rv. Hygieia is seated in the foreground, holding symbols of pharmacy in her hands, two lions beside her, two winged female figures hovering to either side and holding a crown above her head, on the ground lies the defeated, personified Death. THE . ROYAL . INSTITUTE . OF PUBLIC . HEALTH . FOUNDED . MDCCCLXXXVI . W . R . SMITH . M . D . PRESIDENT . 1896. Edge engraving: ELIE METCHNIKOFF, GOLD MEDALLIST, 1906. 76.9 mm. Eimer -. BHM -. Sehr selten / Very rare. Vorzüglich-FDC / About Uncirculated. Randschlag / Edge nick.

From the auction Künker 258, Osnabrück, January 2015, lot 1064.

The Royal Institute of Public Health was the merger of a several societies: The Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers of Health was an English society of metropolitan Medical Officer for Health, established on 3 April 1856. In 1869, "Metropolitan" was dropped from the title, and in 1873, it became the Society of Medical Officers of Health. The founder, Sir Henry Harben (24 August 1823 - 2 December 1911), was a British pioneer of industrial life assurance. Between 1889 and 1897, he gave large sums to assist the company in their various schemes of technical education and social philanthropy. These benefactions included an endowment for technical lectures and a gold medal in connection with the Institute of Public Health.

This medal was awarded to Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (15 May 1845 - 15 July 1916), also spelled Élie Metchnikoff, who was a zoologist from the Russian Empire of Moldavian noble ancestry best known for his research in immunology (study of immune systems) and thanatology (study of death). He and Paul Ehrlich were jointly awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on immunity".