Reference:6966 Tipu Sultan and The Siege and Capture of Seringapatam: The Honourable East India Company Medal Awarded to Peter Cherry, Paymaster of the Nizam of Hyderabad, 1799

Obverse: The British Lion overcoming the Tiger of Tipu Sultan; a banner above with the Union Flag and an Arabic legend = THE LION OF GOD IS THE CONQUEROR. Exergue: IV. MAY. MDCCXCIX 

Reverse: The fortress of Seringapatam under attack, with troops massing; a radiate sunburst above.

Exergue: Persian inscription = SERINGAPATAM GOD BESTOWED 28TH DAY OF THE MONTH THILKEIDA, 1213 OF THE HEGIRA.

In a glazed case with gold frame and a hinged gold suspension loop; the edge of the frame is engraved in an elegant cursive script: PETER CHERRY, PAYMASTER TO THE NIZAM'S DETACHMENT, 4TH MAY 1799. 

By Conrad Heinrich Kuchler.

Gilt-Silver (with gold frame), 48 mm. (70 grammes).  

Condition: In Mint State

Notes:

Present at the Siege of Seringapatam, Peter Cherry (1773-1823) joined the Madras Civil Service at the age of sixteen and held various appointments, before being attached as Paymaster to the force sent to Hyderabad, successfully securing the dismissal of French officers in command of the Nizam's army, led by Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III (1768-1803). Subsequent to this, he was part of the expedition sent to Mysore in order subdue Tipu Sultan, in this extraordinary campaign.

 

This impeccably provenanced medal, extraordinary in its design, format, and superlative condition, has remained with the Cherry family for more than two hundred years. It is accompanied by a brief fragmentary typed note, prepared in the nineteenth century by a family descendant, Peter Lacey Cherry (1848-1908).