Rama V northern trip commemorated
Joint Thai-Norwegian medallions issued on
90th anniversary of historic tour
By Michael Brady
King Chulalongkorn of Siam was well-educated and well-traveled. And,
as Klai Baan, the collection of his travelogue letters of 1907 to
his daughter, Princess Nibha Nobhadol show, he was a skilled writer
and photographer, with an eye for detail. This year, on the 90th anniversary
of that historic tour, Thai and Norwegian artists have combined their
skills to produce commemorative medallions in gold, silver and copper-nickel.
The tour, which took the King and his small entourage to Singapore,
Egypt, Sicily, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, England, Denmark and
Norway, lasted 235 days, an record undertaking, particularly for its
time. The Norwegian portion of it included nearly the whole country,
from the capital of Oslo to the North Cape, the northernmost point
of the European continent and the place in the itinerary that was
most distant from the King's homeland. So the medallions commemorate
the King's Norwegian tour and his visit to the North Cape. They are
historically significant, as Siam, renamed Thailand in 1939, was the
only country in south and southeast Asia to escape colonization by
a European power. King Rama V, the posthumous name of Chulalongkorn,
was the first independent Asian monarch to visit Europe.
There are four medallions in the series: a 22 carat, 16.14 gr. gold
medallion, 27 mm in diameter, two 925 sterling silver medallions,
27 and 42 mm in diameter weighting respectively 11.84 gr. and 56.35
gr., and a copper-nickel medallion, 27 mm in diameter, sold in a philatelic
cover with its stamp postmarked at the North Cape Post Office on 12
July 1997, the 90th anniversary day of the King Chulalongkorn visit
there.
All four medallions have the same design. The obverse shows King
Chulalongkorn and King Haakon VII of Norway, both in formal attire
with top hats. Though taken from a photograph of the two Kings, the
engraving required special skills to accurately capture the nuances
of facial details. Consequently, Thai artists produced the likeness
of King Rama V, and Norwegian artists produced the likeness of King
Haakon VII, and their joint efforts were combined to produce the final
image used in engraving.
The obverse, from a photograph taken by King Chulalongkorn, shows
proud workmen around a pictograph they cut into a stone, following
the royal monogram drawn on it by the King. The pictograph monogram
is now one of the attractions at the North Cape, as it is permanent
evidence of the first visit of an Asian monarch to Norway. It is also
a tribute to the awareness of King Rama V, who in his travelogue letter
number 108 wrote that the North Cape was the turning point of his
trip, from which he was then homeward bound. Today, as then, many
leave the North Cape with just that thought in mind.
North American readers may obtain further information from Kent Froseth
of Minneapolis, Minn., at telephone (612) 831-9550. Readers elsewhere
may contact Oslo Mynthandel directly at
(47) 23100000.
