LOT   /  Toronto Coin Expo Fall Sale 2026 (Thursday Night)  / 

445

Victoria, Australia 1869 Acclimatization Medal to Geologist Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn.

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:40.00 CAD Estimated At:80.00 - 140.00 CAD
Victoria, Australia 1869 Acclimatization Medal to Geologist Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn.
CURRENT BID
0.00CAD+ applicable fees & taxes.
ENTER YOUR MAXIMUM ABSENTEE BID[?]
You must bid at least
40.00CAD
CAD
40.00 x 1 unit = 40.00CADApplicable fees & taxes are added at checkout.
[?]Live Online Auction Starts In 2026 Oct 22 @ 17:30 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Buyer’s Premium of 15% will be added on the hammer price all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale.

A SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR U.S. CUSTOMERS:
We regret that lots will not be shipped into the United States. Please submit bids only if you are able to provide a secure delivery address within Canada. We apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment this may cause.
Victoria, Australian State, Acclimatization Society of Victoria, Bronze Medal, named to prominent British-born Australian geologist A.R.C. Selwyn, in Melbourne, 1869. Created by Joseph S. Wyon and minted by Wyon in London, this medal displays stunning artistic detail. It covers an interesting topic in mid-19th-century Australian and South Pacific history. The obverse of the piece at center is inscribed “ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY VICTORIA” with a Pacific cross in the background and a wreath at center of imported plants, including grape vines, flours, and wheat, bound with ribbon inscribed “OMNIA TELLUS OMNES FERET” (EVERY LAND WILL BEAR ALL THINGS). The medal’s reverse displays a stunning scene of exotic wildlife and various plants, including a rabbit, hare, swan, deer, pheasant, goat, alpaca and a small bird in flight above. Below the nature scene at the bottom is inscribed: J.S. & A.B. WYON SC. / 1868 / T. LANSEER A.B.A. ADJ. in three lines. Along the plain edge of the medal is inscribed, “Presented to A.R.C. SELWYN ESQ. Melbourne 1869”. The obverse displays a nice, even light brown toning across both the wreath, lettering and fields with a small rim nick at 2 o’clock mark, while there are some verdigris and dark spots both along the wreath and fields, these do not, as a whole, detract from the overall beauty of the medals detail. The reverse of the medal has a very pleasant light brown colour throughout with no signs of wear. There are very light rim nicks at the 6 o’clock and 11 o’clock positions, but they are minor and do not affect the overall appeal. A unique, historically interesting early piece of both pre-Confederation Australian and British colonial history relating to the South Pacific, tied to a prominent figure in both British and Australian geology, and a wonderful addition to anyone’s historical medal collection. Medal displays AU details. Specifications: Diameter: 58mm, Weight: 112.8g, Composition: Brass, Edge: Plain. Not clear how many medals were ever issued.
ABOUT THE ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY: According to the Victoria Museums collection website, in the mid-19th century in Australia and New Zealand, Acclimatization Societies were established to introduce exotic plants and animals to the land. They hoped to make the alien environment feel more like home, to beautify their gardens, provide sport for hunters and ‘aggrandize’ the colony. But above all, they wanted to make the land economically productive. The Acclimatization Society of Victoria was founded in 1861 by Edward Wilson, a private collector whose motto was ‘if it lives, we want it’. Wilson was supported by Henry Barkly, a science patron and later governor. The Acclimatization Society was primarily responsible for introducing starlings, sparrows, and European carp into the Murray River. The Acclimatization Society established the Melbourne Zoo to house imported animals before their release. At the same time, government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller focused on introducing plant species from other parts of Australia and elsewhere in the world. Some, like blackberries, initially proved productive, but became noxious weeds or pests. The Acclimatization Society of Victoria folded about 1872, as the implications of its actions began to be realized.
ABOUT ALFRED RICHARD CECIL SELWYN:
Information from the Australian Dictionary of Biography Website: Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn (1824-1902), geologist, was born on 28 July 1824 at Kilmington, Somerset, England. Educated at home by private tutors and later in Switzerland, he became interested in geology by collecting fossils as a hobby. On 1 April 1845 he joined the Geological Survey of Great Britain as assistant geologist and was promoted to geologist on 1 January 1848. He worked in Shropshire and North Wales on the mapping of the Paleozoic rocks, but was also on the British coalfields. Early in 1852 he married his cousin Matilda Charlotte Selwyn, and had to seek a higher income. His brother Arthur was in Queensland and in September 1851 had indicated prospects in Australia. Next year the Victorian government appealed to the Colonial Office for a ‘Mineral Surveyor’, and Selwyn was appointed geological surveyor (later director of the Geological Survey). He arrived in Melbourne in November of that year.
In 1856 he discovered near Bendigo the first graptolites found in Australia. This important group of fossils was later used for zoning much of the Lower Paleozoic sequence. In 1853-69 the Geological Survey issued under Selwyn’s direction sixty-one geological maps and numerous reports; they were of such high standard that a writer in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London bracketed the survey with that of the United States of America as the best in the world. Apart from annual reports, he prepared an essay on the geology of Victoria, and expanded it in 1861 for the Catalogue of the Victorian Exhibition; in 1865 he put out a geological map of Victoria in eight sheets. With G. H. F. Ulrich in 1866 he published Intercolonial Exhibition Essays … Notes on the Physical Geography, Geology and Mineralogy of Victoria for the Paris exhibition; it was translated into French. In 1855 Selwyn had surveyed the coal measures of Tasmania, and in 1859 the eastern part of South Australia including the Flinders Range. In the Inman Valley region south of Adelaide he recognized evidence for glaciation at a site now known (and preserved) as Selwyn's Rock; later he supported this important observation by similar work in the Bacchus Marsh region of Victoria. His other duties included appointments to the Mining Commission (1856), the Board of Science (1858) and the Board of Agriculture (1859); he was a commissioner for the Victorian Exhibition (1861) and the London International Exhibition (1862) and was on the management committee of the Zoological Gardens from 1858.
In 1869, pleading lack of funds, the government abruptly terminated the Geological Survey against a background of disagreement with Selwyn about its functions. He left Melbourne for England in March, visiting Sydney on the way. Before he left he announced that he had been offered the post of director of the Geological Survey of Canada. He arrived in Canada in October, took office in December and continued a distinguished career until his retirement on 1 January 1894. After moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1896 he carried out consulting work in mining geology. He died in Vancouver on 18 October 1902 and was buried in the Mountain View cemetery, predeceased by his wife in 1882 and by four of his nine children.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot Sign In for Lot Closing Notifications