Gift : Medal for 1789 Opening Armagh Observatory

Handing over Observatory Medal to Registry Office. Image credit: Ian Maginess

We have received a gift of one of the bronze medals struck to celebrate the 1789 opening of Armagh Observatory.

Mr David Nicholl has been the owner of the medal for over sixty years and he and his wife, Brenda, decided to donate it to the Library. As Armagh Observatory and Armagh County Museum have more than one of the same medal in their collections, we received this one with pleasure. This means that the Library now has two medals celebrating Armagh Observatory’s opening, and can display both sides, one showing the Observatory and the other Archbishop Richard Robinson, our founder too.

Registry Officer, Stephen Day, received the medal officially from David and Brenda. It is already on display in No 5 Vicar’s Hill, so we invite people to visit No 5 to see both medals, as well as examples of the Library’s medal, coin, gem and print collections.

Many thanks to David and Brenda for their thoughtfulness in presenting the Library with this gift.