5000 Pounds - Charles III Waterloo Medal - Victory; Gold Proof

Issued individually.

When Kronos, the power-hungry Titan, overthrew and castrated his father, Ouranos, a race of giants was spawned by Gaia from falling droplets of the primordial god’s blood. Aggressive and bloodthirsty, the giants (or ‘Gigantes’) waged war upon the gods of Olympus in a conflict known in Greek mythology as the Gigantomachy. Eurymedon, king of the giants, led this uprising against the gods who, under the command of Zeus (the Roman Jupiter), successfully defended their rule of the cosmos.

Pistrucci took inspiration from this mythological event to form the border of his reverse design for the Waterloo Medal, in which 19 giants represent the duration of the war. Modern accounts tend to date the beginning of the conflict as 1799 or 1803; however, the 19-year period Pistrucci acknowledges stems from 1796, when Napoleon Bonaparte launched his first campaign in Italy.

The king of the gods drives a quadriga (a car or chariot) as he wreaks divine punishment upon the giants, each depicted with serpents for legs. Symbolising the confusion and demise of the defeated enemy, the giants are portrayed tumbling over one another after they have been struck by Jupiter’s thunder.

In the centre of the design, two equestrian figures are depicted in a classical style, bearing the features of the Duke of Wellington and General Blücher galloping towards glory, as they are guided by the figure of a flying Victory.

© The Royal Mint, 2025