An enameled songbird perches at the center of this 1902 gold medal, probably originally awarded by a British bird-fanciers club. The bird looks to me like a robin, and Lindsay thinks it's a finch, but these tiny enamel portraits aren’t always precise enough for a certain identification.
Bird fancying was enormously popular in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, particularly in the industrial north. Working- and middle-class enthusiasts bred and exhibited canaries and other songbirds, competing for plumage, color, and tune with the same fervor that other Victorians brought to horses, pigeons and dogs.
The back is engraved “Thomas Dobson,” presumably the medal’s original recipient.
think this is a finch (but could possibly be a thrush)
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a huge culture of canary breeding, finch exhibitions and bird clubs in GB (particularly in Yorsjire, Lancashire, Durham and Northumberland). There were contests for best song, plummage, color, etc. Working and middle class people bred and exhibited these birds with the same fervor that the upper classes did with horses, pigeons and dogs.
MATERIALS: 9k gold (marked), enamel, new 14k gold chain
AGE: Chester assay marks for 1902
CONDITION: Very good - engraved "Thomas Dobson" on the back side
SIZE: 1 3/8" length including the bale, 1" diameter, 18" chain