Δ  Sketch of the artist at work by his son William Charles Wyon, dated 1842. [1]

Born in Birmigham, West Midlands, England in 1795. Although the family of William Wyon appear to be one of the best known in homeland and overseas in the art of die-engraving of coins, medals, postal stamps, among other art-works, yet little is known of their early history.

Peter Wyon [1767-1822], William's father, disolved the partnership as General Engraver in 1800 with his brother Thomas to continued his occupation in design and die-sinking for ornamental brass-work. Peter was a great father for the young William , who after passing through a repectable School at Birmingham, was apprenticed in 1809 being just a teenager with a natural genius to his own father.

The first reward to the young artist talent was in 1813 when the Society of Arts awarded him the gold medal for his "Head of Ceres", which dies purchased by the Society were used to strike the Prize Gold Medal, in the Class of Agricultural at the time.

In 1815, William was invited to leave Birgminham and moved to London, to assist his uncle Thomas Wyon [1792-1817], who was then employed by Nathaniel Marchant [1738/9-1816], as Chief Engraver of the Seals at the Royal Mint. During this post William engraved many seals an assisted in the execution of many other for the British colonies. Coincidentally in that year, the Master of the Mint, Sir William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington [1814-1823] made some modifications including the retirement of the Chief Engraver Lewis Pingo [1779-1815] and the Second Engraver Marchant.

Δ  Sir William Wellesley-Pole had an attitude quite unacceptable for a person with such post of importance, stating that the Mint would not have two employees who were family, superfluous expression, that almost made discourage the participation of Wyon in the competition for the job. [2]

At the same time, the Master said, that in order to fill the position of Second Engraver, which had recently become vacant, there should be a competition for it.

Wyon was never able to gain the confidence of the new Master of the Mint, so he hesitate a lot, but in the end, when approaching the deadline for the post, accepting the challenge, determined to take the risk and engraved a head of George III, the size of a guinea. Several patterns were prepared, one sent to the leading English painter Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769-1830], who almost immediately, looking at it, declared Wyon's as the most skilful, therefore, in this year 1816, he was appointed Second Engraver of the Royal Mint.

Coincidentally the same year that began the great re-coinage, which kept him occupied in the duties assigned to a Second Engraved such as, lettering dies, making punches, etc.

Later in 1820, engraving originals hubs and dies for the coinage for the Ionian Islands. Them the following year he took a break and on April 12, 1821 he married Catherine Sophia Keele, with whom he had a family of two sons [Fred & Leonard] and three daughters [Fanny, Julia & Louisa]. The eldest son, Leonard Charles Wyon [1826-1891], who was born in one of the houses in the Royal Mint, who inherited from his father great skill in die engraving, thus become another famous engraver, one more in this family.

He return to work later that year, to continue the coinage that had begun earlier for the Ionian Islands, so as well modelling and engraving dies for the British farthing which continued until 1822. While the obverse was a copy of Pistrucci's head of George III, the figure of Britannia for the reverse, was designed, modeled and engraved by him in its entirety.

Δ  Some of the very many coins designed by Wyon for the British colonies and governments of other countries. Obverse bust of William IV, for the silver Guilder and its fractions for British Guiana [top left], Britannia reverse for the Ionian islands copper coins minted in 1819 [top right], famous silver Rix dollar reverse for the island of Ceylon [bottom left] and bust of Queen Mary II [1834-1853] of Portugal, used since 1836 by the Iberian nation. [3]

In 1823 was appointed Master of the Mint Sir Thomas Wallace, 1st Baron Wallace [1768-1844], who very dissatisfied with many of the new coins produced to date, ordered Wyon a complete series of new dies to be executed, without realizing that his work was very difficult and, in some way, was making some of it corresponding to the duties of a Chief Engraver, but without pay.

In 1825, Wyon's health is deteriorating alarmingly, resulting from overwork to the point that the Master himself ordered that from then Wyon was under the care of the Master's personal physician, in order to achieve his complete recovery.

Unfortunately, Sir Wallace resigned in 1827 in consequence of a Change in the Administration and him would regret not having been able to place Wyon, as Chief Engraver, however, he recommended him to his successor, George Tierney [1761-1830], who finally manages to give Wyon the position him deserved in its own right.

But yet in 1828, there was a rather embarrassing situation, since the non-operative Pistrucci, was still receiving salary as such and not exercised his post. Again, with the arrival of a new monarch, William IV, the engraver was busy in the preparation of the hubs and dies for the new coinage that must be ready as soon as possible, by order of the King himself.

In his prolific output between 1828 and 1851 there is much to admire from the work of this prolific artist with designs of charm and distinction, a list of them that would make this biography almost endless but his enduring reputation rests rather on his coin portraits of Queen Victoria.

Δ  The bronze City Medal struck in 1837 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s first visit to the City of London after her accession to the throne [top] when she was 18. The same model used for the head on currency of the island of Mauritus [bottom left] as well for many others colonies and also the famous line-engraved stamps of 1840-79 [bottom right], the embossed stamps of 1847-54 which dies were by William Wyon as well, with his initials WW along with the die number at the base of the neck in the 1 shilling and 10 pence values and last, the postal stationary 1841-1901.  [3]

They begin early, for the Queen first sat for him as a young Princess in 1832 and he produced a medallic portrait for her eighteen birthday in 1837. This was followed by a portrait in lower relief that undoubtedly takes first prize. It was used for the new Queen's coins, which began to find their way into circulation in the summer of 1838, and it was adopted for the coinage of the beloved colonial three halfpence whose most significant details can be seen in  Coin design's anatomy  page. In 1847 came a crowned bust in fashionable Gothic style, adopted for the proof crowns of that year and, later, for the controversial florins of 1849. 

About the same time another diademed portrait was prepared for campaign and general service medals, and finally, shortly before Wyon's death on October 29th, 1851, he completed conjoint portraits of the Queen and the Prince Consort for medals for the The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, since it was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from May 1st to October 15th of that year of 1851.

Δ  Prize medal of the Great Exhibition of 1851, struck in bronze at the Royal Mint, which co-joined bust of Albert and Victoria in obverse was designed by William Wyon. The rest of the medal was designed by his son, engraver Leonard Charles Wyon. There were 2,876 Prize medals awarded by the jurors in the various classes. [3]

Born Johann Baptist Merlen in 1769, of Flemish descent,of whom little is known of his life, apparently emigrated from France to London shortly after the end of the first empire of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Merlen, who had worked for many years at the Paris Mint, produced between 1804 and 1805 what might be his first job as Medallist, the Jetons for the Academy of Medicine of Brussels. Perhaps learned from this work and for the first time, practicing the art of die-sinking.

Δ  The Paris Mint served as training school for the young J.B.Merlen, even during the difficult times of the Napoleonic Empire. He work at the institution for a long period; at least 15 years. [4]

He was employed by the Royal Mint around 1820 on the recommendation of Engraver Benedetto Pistrucci [1783-1855], who had probably made his acquaintance in France, filling the post of Assistant-Engraver under the authority of Sir William Wyon [1769-1851], Pistrucci being Chief Medallist. The first dies for English coins engraved by Merlen shortly after taking over in the new post, of which there is an official record, are those of the reverse of a Half Crown of King George IV in 1820. 

Δ  Some of the very many coins designed by Merlen for the Royal Mint. Reverse of 1820 Half Crown [top left], bust of George IV, for the gold two pounds [top right], reverse used for the six pence and one shilling [bottom left] for more than 50 years and reverse for the Maundy coin series [bottom right] from 1822 until 1887. [5]

In 1823, he was commissioned to engrave the obverse of the Double Sovereign, from a model by the sculptor Sir Francis Chantrey. However Merlen was more clever in the engraving of armorial bearings, as shown on the reverses of both the Maundy money and the 1½ pence coins. We can also admire his work, in the preparation of Pattern Crowns between 1825 and 1829.

His connection with the British coinage and the Royal Mint ceased shortly after the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, and is presumed that the Engraver, who by then was of an advanced age of 75, retired from his post in July 1844, returning to either Paris or Brussels where he died about 1850, but continues to this day unknown.

[1] — Image from undated postal card printed by The British Postal Museum & Archive, London, U.K.

[2] — Bronze medal honoring Master of the Mint Pole by Pistrucci, struck in 1823 at the Royal Mint. Images courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.

[3] — Plate's coins Images courtesy of Noble Numismatics Pty Ltd of Australia, with the exception of the postal stamp.

[4] — Images courtesy of Alain Michot from Flickr website's photostream. Photo was taken on March 15th, 2009.  

[5] — Plate's coins Images courtesy of Noble Numismatics Pty Ltd of Australia.