Betrothed to James Stuart, the Old Pretender

340, Lot: 575. Estimate $150. Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

temp. HANOVER. Maria Clementina Sobieska. As Queen-consort in pretence, 1719-1735. Æ Medal (48mm, 45.72 g, 12h). Escape of Princess Clementina from Innsbruck. By O. Hamerani. 1719. CLEMENTINA · M · BRITAN · FR · ET · HIB · REGINA ·, diademed, ermine-mantled, and draped bust left; OTTO·HAMERANI·F· below / FORTVNAM · CAVSAMQVE · SEQVOR (I follow his fortune and his cause), Maria Clementina hurriedly departing in carriage left; Rome at a distance; in two lines in exergue, DECEPTIS · CVSTODIBVS ·/·MDCCXIX · (the guards having been deceived). MI 444/49; Eimer 484; Woolf 36:1. Near EF, brown surfaces.

From the collection of a Southern Pathologist. Ex Classical Numismatic Group XXXIII (15 March 1995), lot 1937.

On July 23, 1718, Maria Clemintina, the granddaughter of Polish king Jan III Sobieski, was betrothed to James Stuart, the Old Pretender. George I, on learning of the marriage, immediately set to foiling his rival’s plans. The reigning king urged Emperor Charles VI to intercept the bride, who was proceeding with her retinue to Bologna. Despite family ties with Maria, Charles complied, and the girl was imprisoned in Innsbruck Castle. James sent his agent, Charles Wogan, to her rescue. By replacing Maria with a maid and abandoning most of her entourage, Wogan and Maria managed to escape the castle. When she at last arrived in Bologna on 22 May 1719, James was away in Spain. The couple was married by proxy. Following James’ return, the couple lived for some time in Rome, under the protection of the Pope, on whose order this medal was supposedly struck.