WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2018 AT 11AM

F.E. Dixon Collection 288 Trinity College Dublin Extern Historical Society - a rare silver medal by Mossop, 1807. 52mm. Seated helmeted hibernia obverse. To Johanne O. Oldfield. The Hibernia figure cut from a striking of a die made for the Royal Irish Academy and soldered to a blank medal after the inscription was engraved. Extremely rare, very fine. fed Provenance Collection of F.E. Dixon Estimate €100-€150 (approx £90-£130) Click Here for Large Images & To Bid 288 289 Trinity College Dublin, large gold award medal for Science and Mathematics, 1862 Obverse: Elizabeth I facing left. Reverse: Arms of Trinity College Dublin, ground of trefoils on reticulations, to Johannes Naish, later Lord Chancellor of Ireland, unsigned in original Woodhouse box of issue, good very fine with light scratches, 50mm, 63g, 15ct gold. Provenance Collection of F.E. Dixon Estimate €900-€1,000 (approx £800-£890) Click Here for Large Images & To Bid 289 The Collection of F.E. ‘Fred’ Dixon. Frederick E Dixon (1913-1988) was brought up in Peterborough, graduated in mathematics at Cambridge, after which he became a meteorologist in Edinburgh. He joined the fledgling Irish Meteorological Service in March 1939, starting in Foynes. He was to serve for nearly 40 years, in due course training a generation of Irish meteorologists, heading the Central Forecasting Office in Dublin, and finally ending his official career in charge of the Meteorological Service’s climatological division. Fred, or Freddie, as he was affectionately known by his colleagues and collectors, as well as being an expert meteorologist, became the doyen of Irish philately and postal history. He was President of the Irish Philatelic Society when I joined in the mid 1960s. There was a touch of eccentricity about Fred which I learned early on when, to quieten us young and over-vocal members during the IPS meetings, he blew on his Acme Thunderer whistle, which shut us up and caused a few palpitations among the elderly members such as Miss Griffiths and Mrs Purser! Fred was also a keen numismatist and medal collector, a founder of the Irish Postcard Collectors Club, a member of the Old Dublin Society - to whom he gave lectures on “The Weather in Old Dublin” - the Postal History Society and several other societies or clubs. He was a Signatory to The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists and won many awards for exhibits from his collections and for his contributions to literature about his many interests. He was a regular writer of letters to The Irish Times and rarely a week – or sometimes a day - went by without his contribution to the paper. As well as being a good client of mine he was also a stalwart supporter and ever helpful, answering promptly, and with authority, my many queries about a great variety of collectibles. Fred’s many collections have been dispersed over the last thirty years since his death. This is the last tranche – his fascinating and valuable collection of medals, badges and buttons. Any one of these wonderful treasures, “Ex FE Dixon Collection”, is a memorial to a truly great collector. Ian Whyte August 2018