The Preston Fight

CNG 93, Lot: 1924. Estimate $1000. Sold for $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GREAT BRITAIN. George I. 1714-1727. AR Medal (46mm, 36.95 g, 12h). Capture of the Jacobite Rebels at Preston. By J. Croker. Dated 1715. GEORGIVS · D : G : MAG : BR : FR : ET · HIB : REX · F · D ·, laureate, draped, and armored bust right / FIDES · MILITVM · (the honor of the forces), trophy of arms comprised of military and musical implements and instruments; all set upon altar decorated with two clasped hands; two bound captives at base to left and right; in three lines in exergue, REBELL : AD · PRESTON/CAPT/13 NOV 1715 (the rebels captured at Preston). MI 435/34; Eimer 476; Woolf 31:2; van Loon IV, p. 689. Near EF, toned. Rare.

Following the death of Queen Anne and the establishment of the German Hanoverian line in England, the Jacobite cause saw its first major uprising in 1715, in an attempt to return the throne to the Stuart line. Various campaigns were planned, but did not receive the support that was planned, and the rebels’ surrender after being besieged at Preston in November quelled the uprising for a time, as it was realized that further support from a mainland European power was necessary if the cause were to have any hope of success.