3-052-794 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Casket presented to the King of Greece, with Freedom of the City of London, 1880. 'The address of welcome from the Corporation of the City of London to King George I., King of the Hellenes, is to be inclosed in a gold casket, which is being manufactured by Mr. J. W. Benson..It is of Greek style, an oblong octagon in form, supported, at the four corners, by city dragons, each grasping a shield of the civic arms enamelled in colours. The front of the casket will have a medallion portrait of the King of Greece, festooned with fruit and flowers, and bearing a laurel-branch in token of further success. Above the portrait, the winged cap of Mercury, as the Greek emblem of commerce, is appropriately placed; and below the King's initial letter, "G," enamelled in blue and white, forms a pendant. The Royal Orb of Greece appears in exalted positions at each corner of the cover, around the extreme edge of which are tablets containing names of the celebrated Greek poets, philosophers, and orators. The Greek honeysuckle ornament on the box, and the Grecian key border around the base, suggests fine art, for which Greece was renowned. The whole is surmounted by the Greek arms, with the national supporters, upholding the jewelled crown of the King of Greece'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.