1732 John Croker Royal Family Medal

Croker and Tanner collaborated to produce this medal, intended for distribution to foreign royalty and to others in favour of George II. It was issued in response to a medal produced in Italy in 1731 by the papal engraver Ottone Hamerani (1694-1768) depicting the two sons of James III, Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict, on the occasion of Charles's eleventh birthday. The British response was clear enough, that George II was de facto King, and that he had a thriving family, including two heirs. The obverse, by Croker, shows George II and Queen Caroline; the reverse, by Tanner, shows busts of their seven children, with Frederick, Prince of Wales, in the centre, surrounded by the heads of William, Duke of Cumberland and the Princesses Anne, Amelia, Caroline, Maria and Louise. John Sigismund Tanner succeeded Croker as Chief Engraver of The Royal Mint upon Croker's death in 1741.