Percy Metcalfe, CVO, RDI (14 January 1895

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

– 9 October 1970

Fulham Hospital Fulham Hospital was an English hospital in the west London district of Fulham from 1884 to 1973. From 1957 onwards it was merged with the Charing Cross Hospital and gradually demolished. Charing Cross Hospital relocated from central London and n ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...

, London), (often spelled ''Metcalf'' without "e") was an English artist, sculptor and designer. He is recognised mostly for his coin designs and his contribution to the Ashtead Pottery Collection.

Early life

He was born on 14 January 1895 and died on 9 October 1970 in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

, London. Metcalfe joined the Leeds School of Art in 1910 as a general artist. He moved to sculpting and designing objects as an art form at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It ...

in London. Here he was influenced by Francis Derwent Wood whom he worked with and was mentored by.

Life as an artist

Metcalfe designed the first coinage of the Irish Free State in 1928. The first Irish coin series consisted of eight coins. The harp was chosen as the obverse. Metcalfe was chosen out of six designers as the winner of the reverse design of the Irish Free State's currency. The horse, salmon, bull, wolf-hound, hare, hen, pig and

woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English ...

were all on different denominations of coinage that was known as the Barnyard Collection. Metcalfe's design based on the Trinity College harp was adopted as the basis for the Great Seal of the Irish Free State in 1923 and has remained the model for all official representations of the harp emblem on seals of state, Irish coinage and the coat of arms. As a result of the war from 1914 to 1918, the price of silver in the United Kingdom grew dramatically, until in 1920 British "silver" coins were worth less than the silver. Therefore, a degraded silver coinage was issued containing only fifty per cent silver. In 1935, it was George V's jubilee, and to celebrate the occasion, a crown piece containing a new design was issued. The reverse side of the coin depicts an image of St George on a horse, rearing over a dragon. Due to its modernistic design by Metcalfe it has earned little credit from collectors. In 1936 Metcalfe designed the obverse crowned effigy of

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

for overseas coinage which was approved by the King, but none was minted for circulation before Edward's abdication that December. Metcalfe was immediately assigned to produce a similar crowned portrait of

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

for overseas use. This image was also used as part of the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...

design in 1940. The George Cross is second in the order of wear in the United Kingdom honours system and is the highest gallantry award for civilians, as well as for members of the armed forces in actions for which purely military honours would not normally be granted. It also features the

flag of Malta The flag of Malta ( mt, Bandiera ta' Malta) is a bicolour, with white in the hoist and red in the fly. A representation of the George Cross, awarded to Malta by George VI in 1942, is carried, edged with red, in the canton of the white stripe. T ...

in recognition of the island's bravery during the Siege of Malta in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Metcalfe also designed the

Great Seal of the Realm The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom (known prior to the Treaty of Union of 1707 as the Great Seal of England; and from then until the Union of 1801 as the Great Seal of Great Britain) is a seal that is used to sy ...

. He produced designs for coinage of several countries including Ireland and Australia. He created a portrait of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

which was used as the obverse for coins of Australia, Canada, Fiji, Mauritius, New Zealand and

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing colony, self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The reg ...

. To commemorate the extraordinary visit that George VI and Queen Elizabeth set out on to North America in 1939, three series of medallions were designed for the Royal Canadian Mint. The reverse side of the coins contained a joint profile of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, which was designed by Metcalfe. This design was also used on the British Coronation Medal of 1937. Metcalfe created a British Jubilee crown piece, which was exhibited in the Leeds College of Art in November 1946.

Other work

In the 1930s Metcalfe designed

car mascot A hood ornament (or bonnet ornament in Commonwealth English), also called, motor mascot, or car mascot is a specially crafted model which symbolizes a car company like a badge, located on the front center portion of the hood. It has been used ...

s. He produced many designs for Ashtead Pottery between 1923 and 1936. One of his sculptural works is the bronze war memorial in

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, South Africa.

Posthumous use of designs

In 2010, the Central Bank of Ireland issued euro coins featuring Metcalfe's Irish coin designs, specifically the salmon and horse design, with slight modifications to represent the "new generation". This was the first time his work was presented on the euro currency. This selection of coins is a second series of three limited edition annual mint coin sets issued by the Central Bank in honour of animals that have previously appeared on Irish coinage. The first set featured the horse while the third in the series will pay tribute to the hound. Each set in the series is followed by a silver proof €15 coin. Along with the horse and the hound, the series of coins pays tribute to three animals which have important historical connections with Ireland.

Works

'' Barnyard Collection. Irish Free State Currency''

Other coin designs

References

External links

The George Cross

* http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/Ireland_all.php * http://www.irishcoinage.com/MODCAT.HTM#modfln # {{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Percy 1895 births 1970 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Art Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order British currency designers English sculptors English male sculptors British medallists Artists from Wakefield English designers 20th-century British sculptors