101218 | SWEDEN. Johan August Wahlberg bronze Medal.

101218  |  SWEDEN. Johan August Wahlberg bronze Medal. Issued 1858. Honoring the naturalist and explorer (31mm, 10.79 g, 12h). By L. Ahlborn.

 

JOH AUG WAHLBERG RER NAT VESTIG SVEC, bare head left / NOMEN DEDIT ET MORTEM, elephant trumpeting right; in four lines in exergue, PEREGRINATORI CELEBRI SOCIO / ANTE DEFUNCTO QUAM ELECTO / R ACAD SC SVEC / MDCCCLVIII. Edge: Plain.

 

Olsén 133; Laidlaw 0024. Mint State. Charming red-brown surfaces, with some brilliance in the fields and just a hint of rub on the high points.

 

A Swedish naturalist and explorer, Johan August Wahlberg graduated with a degree in chemistry from Uppsala University in 1829, and later in forestry and agronomy in 1834. Beginning in 1838, Wahlberg embarked upon an exploratory trip to southern Africa where he collected countless specimens of natural history to be sent back to Sweden for study. While in what is now Botswana, Wahlberg was tragically killed by a wounded elephant. As news of his death had not yet reached Sweden, he had, in the meantime, been elected to be a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, making him the only member to have been elected posthumously.

 

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