Medal - Leopold II Stad Harelbeke
1893 year| Bronze | 34.3 g | 48.11 mm |
| Location | Belgium |
|---|---|
| King | Leopold II (1865-1909) |
| Type | Medals › Commemorative medals |
| Year | 1893 |
| Composition | Bronze |
| Weight | 34.3 g |
| Diameter | 48.11 mm |
| Thickness | 4.45 mm |
| Shape | Round with a loop |
| Technique | Milled |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Updated | 2024-11-12 |
| Numista | N#428110 |
|---|---|
| Rarity index | 97% |
Reverse
4-line inscription in inner circle, items relating to horticulture and agriculture surrounding, two cornucopia's at bottom.
Script: Latin
Lettering:
STAD
HARLEBEKE
26 SEPTEMBER
1893
Edge
Plain
Comment
About the commune:
The name "Harlebeke" is strange. On the net, there's a mention of the "Harlebeke New British Cemetery" located in the commune of Harelbeke (which means "little door" in Dutch). The surname Harlebeke exists as a variant of the name Harelbeke (according to Geneanet). Is this an old name for the commune? Historian Jean Bovesse does not mention the name Harlebeke in his article "Notes sur Harelbeke et Biervliet dans le cadre de l'histoire des Maisons de Namur et de France", Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, Année 1984 150 pp. 453-474.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/bcrh_0001-415x_1984_num_150_1_1259
About the engraver :
... Around the same time as Mauquoy, two other entrepreneurs started up their medal production businesses:
- Edouard Grielens (1845-1901), active from 1875 to 1904 (continued by his widow?) and
- Michel Vermeiren (1842-1926), active from 1877 to 1920.
Edouard Grielens was an engraver, goldsmith and medalist with a workshop in Rue Jules Carnot, 138 (in Antwerp). He advertised his business on a 28 mm bilingual (Dutch-French) brass token that read:
Translated from "Stefan De Lombaert, Medal producer in Belgium (19th - 21st C)", page 138
http://www.numisbel.be/KBGN%20175_De%20Lombaert.pdf
Note that the decoration on the reverse is exactly the same as that on this other medal signed Hart for the portrait of the King:
