Eimer 1187, BHM 1272.
77mm. By B. Wyon, after T. Landseer.
Obverse with a group of 12 birds, reverse with a group of 7 animals. Edge engraved 'H.F. Vinall, For Excellent Work As Overseer At The Aquarium, 1936'.
One of the most spectacular engravings of all of the 19th Century medals with a superb portrayal of various animals and birds. Edge bruise to reverse at 4 o'clock otherwise Extremely Fine and very rare.
Eimer states that "the List of Fellows of the Zoological Society of London (1957) records the number of medals awarded: five in gold for special services; fifty-nine in silver, twenty-two in bronze (for keepers)." The design was approved in 1837 and the first medal awarded was in 1847.
Herbert Frederick Vinall had a career spanning over 50 years at the ZSL, which saw him go from a hands-on keeper to the Curator of the London Zoo Aquarium. He joined the Zoo as a boy in 1901 and worked in various sections, including birds, insects and reptiles. When ZSL decided to build a revolutionary public aquarium under the Mappin Terraces, Vinall was sent, in 1923, to the Amsterdam Aquarium for specialized training to master the advanced water-filtration and life-support engineering required for the new London facility. When the London Zoo Aquarium opened in 1924, Vinall was officially appointed its Overseer, working directly under Director Edward George Boulenger.
During the 1930’s he was actively travelling the world to harvest live specimens from the wild and bring them back to London. In 1946, after the death of Boulenger, Vinall became the curator of the Aquarium. In 1953, he was awarded the Zoological Society silver medal, for over 50 years of service. It seems quite unlikely that there would have been many, if any, other recipients of both the bronze and silver medals of the society.