I didnt Jeff,but I knew a couple of molders,the place closed in the very late 70s,after a buyout and moved to Bury,and closed for good soon after.
This is ours - dating from the first half of the 20th century when it was bought in a charity shop in Bolton by Mrs Dvorak's grandmother. It is a weighty bronzed version, measuring 26 inches across and is similar to Maurice's. I would love more information. There are much smaller ones going on eBay for three figure sums. There seems to be some link to one Arnold Hartig, a Bohemian medalist working in Vienna until his death at over 90 in 1972. I guess ours is a copy but must be closely linked in age to the originals. 1: 2: 3: 4: 5 Reverse:
^ ^ ^ Excellent! Many, many thanks for this Maurice: brilliant help. Any thoughts on dates for yours or whether there's any interesting differences between the differing materials used in ours?
I have no idea how old the mold is Dv,the only thing I do know is that the chap who gave it to me was a molder at Wigan,then moved to Bury,and made the casting there,the mold could have been there for years,I do know we got ours in 1980,I suppose the were cast in what ever metal they were using,ours is alluminium.
