Description:
English bronze medal, 19th Century
Diameter 45mm
The obverse features the bust of Matthew Boulton facing right under the inscription 'MATTHEW BOULTON F. R. S' (Fellow of the Royal Society). Underneath the bust are two Cupids, one holding a torch the other an olive branch. The Cupids sit either side of a rectangular image showing buildings and the word 'SOHO'. The reverse features an obituary to Matthew Boulton, an English manufacturer and engineer who established his Soho Manufactory two miles north of Birmingham, producing artistic metal objects such as buttons. He also founded the 'Soho mint' which minted, among others, the copper 'Soho' coinage of George III. He worked in close collaboration with James Watt whose steam engines were made at Boulton's Soho Foundry.