Circular bronze medal with claw and swivel ribbon bar suspension; the face with the crowned head of King Edward VII facing left, circumscribed ‘EDWARDUS VII REX IMPERATOR’ (Edward VII King Emperor), signed ‘DES’ (for George William de Saulles, 1862-1903, Chief Engraver to the Royal Mint); the reverse inscribed ‘CORONATION OF HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII’ and dated ‘1902’ below right above a Tudor crown on branches of oak and laurel, all within a ring circumscribed above ‘L · C · C · M · F · B · ’ (London County Council Metropolitan Fire Brigade ); attributed on the edge to ‘ADOLPHUS F. COOMBS.’; on possibly original correct ribbon, glue residue to the upper reverse.
The Medal was instituted to mark the Coronation of King Edward VII on 9 August 1902 and awarded in different versions to the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police and the Fire and Ambulance Services.
Adolphus Frank Coombs was born on Jersey, Channel Isles in 1863. He moved to London in the early 1890s and married in 1896. He was based initially at the Farringdon Road fire station and then the Commercial Road station in Whitechapel before settling at the Southwark Bridge Road station where he served for almost twenty years. He retired in 1922 and moved to Links Road, Mitcham in Surrey and later to Rochford, Essex where he died in 1946 at the age of 83.
Only 1,000 examples of the Fire Brigade version were struck making it rare.
|