The surrounding rings are silver-gilted, while the moon is oxidised and electroformed
The Goldsmiths’ Company’s ‘Moon Trophy’ Remembered 50 Years After the Moon Landing
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Fifty years ago in 1969, the first men landed on the moon, and with that the Goldsmiths' Company fittingly commissioned a piece to commemorate Sir Alan Herries Wilson’s time as Prime Warden from 1969-1970.
Sir Alan Herries Wilson, a distinguished physicist laid the foundations for today’s understanding of microelectronics, as well as the Apollo 11 mission itself which landed the first men on the moon.
The ‘Moon Trophy’ stands at 38.7 cm tall, and depicts a hand reaching out toward a magnificently modelled, oxidised and electroformed moon, hand sand cast in silver.
Surrounding the moon are silver-gilt rings, set in gimbals, allowing freedom of movement, reminiscent of the command module’s orbit, piloted alone by Michael Collins, awaiting the return of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Supporting the extended hand, moon and silver-gilt rings is a black Belgian marble plinth, mirroring the darkness of space and mankind’s ambition to explore it.
Not only does the trophy have a distinctive design, but it’s effective in expressing the gravity of the man and event it represents.
The Plinth reads: Man Reached Out Into Space And Attained The Moon / 21st July 1969.
The Moon Trophy is part of the Modern Plate Collection belonging to the Goldsmiths’ Company.
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