Stock No. 2954	Irish bronze medal, Cork National Exhibition
Irish bronze medal of the Cork National Exhibition, 1852. By W. Woodhouse. Obverse: Interior view of an exhibition hall within a wide border decorated with shamrocks. In exergue: FINE ARTS HALL/OPENED JUNE 10/1852/SIR T. DEANE & J. BENSON ARCHTs. Reverse: Hope standing left, raising the hand of Hibernia seated on a rock, sun rising over distant sea. Legend: THE DARKEST HOUR IS THAT BEFORE DAWN. Maker :- W. Woodhouse

Condition :-Extremely Fine 145
Circa :- 1852
Size :- 1.7 inches (43.18 mm) diameter
Sir Thomas Deane (1792-1871), Cork builder and architect. Mayor of Cork 1830, knighted in the same year. Sir John Benson (1812-74), architect and surveyor. County Surveyor to the East Riding of Cork, 1846; engineer to Cork Harbour Commissioners 1850; architect of the Dublin Industrial Exhibition 1853 and knighted in the same year. Referring to the Cork National Exhibition, The Gentleman's Magazine 1852, vol.II, p.85 notes "The exhibition of the National Manufacturers of Ireland opened in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess of Eglinton. The site is on Albert Quay, where the hall of the corn market has been elongated by a temporary structure resembling an inverted ship. The whole forms a saloon 182 feet in length by 53 in breadth and 50 feet in height. It is covered with one arched roof which is composed along the centre of glass.".

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