SA PIONEER Medal 19,7g - STERLING SILVER by CAPE MINT in 1980 (.925) - Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)

STERLING SILVER MEDAL by CAPE MINT (PAGLIARI) in 1980 (92,5%) - Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)

Form: Circular. Proof with frosted designs

Size and weight: 34mm ; 19,7 grams 

Obverse: Bust of pioneer, signed: "PAGLIARI". Legend below: the name of the pioneer and his year of birth and death.

According to WIKIPEDIA: In 1797, Barrow accompanied Lord Macartney as private secretary in his important and delicate mission to settle the government of the newly acquired colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Barrow was entrusted with the task of reconciling the Boer settlers and the native Black population and of reporting on the country in the interior. In the course of the trip, he visited all parts of the colony; when he returned, he was appointed auditor-general of public accounts. He then decided to settle in South Africa, married, and bought a house in 1800 in Cape Town. However, the surrender of the colony at the peace of Amiens (1802) upset this plan. During his travels through South Africa, Barrow compiled copious notes and sketches of the countryside that he was traversing. The outcome of his journeys was a map which, despite its numerous errors, was the first published modern map of the southern parts of the Cape Colony. Barrow's descriptions of South Africa greatly influenced Europeans' understanding of South Africa and its peoples.71.

Reverse: Scene of a significant episode in the pioneer's life.