ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY, SPRING CATTLE SHOW, 1857, SILVER PRIZE MEDAL. Obverse: Hibernia seated left, head right, holding spear. Reverse: a bull and ram facing left. Edge officially inscribed, engraved in serifed block capitals: TO JAFFRAY BARCROFT, FOR THE BEST SHORTHORNED HEIFER (CA)LVED IN 1856". 51mm, by W & F Woodhouse. Edge bruise at 8 o'clock, partially obscuring the letters "CA" in naming details (as indicated), some scuffing in fields, otherwise attractively toned and Good Very Fine.
Medal accompanied by biographical details for Jaffray Barcroft (christian name also spelt Jeffrey), extract Thom's Directory 1867, and estate agent's photographs of the exterior of Barcroft's country seat, Kilbogget House, Cabinteely, Co. Dublin (3, front, rear and side elevations), taken when it was recently placed on the market
Jaffray Barcroft (1800-1868) is recorded in Thom's Directory for 1867 as a timber measurer and broker, with premises at 42a Great Brunswick Street, Dublin and a counry residence in Kilbogget, Cabinteely, Co. Dublin. Kilbogget House is an extensive Italianate country villa. At the time of the Treaty Negotiations after the Irish War of Independence, the Barcroft family are recroded as having provided Michael Collins with refuge in a secret room in Kilbogget House, whilst he was on the run from the crown forces.
