James Wyon
Born 1804
Died 1868
Active: 1825 - 1859
Country of birth and death: Great Britain
Medallist, engraver
Son of George Wyon (b. 1771) and Elizabeth Phillips (married 26 August 1798). This branch of the family stayed in the west midlands. James worked as assistant to his cousin William Wyon in London, and on the reorganization of the Royal Mint in 1851 became resident engraver. Two of his sons, Henry Wyon (1834–1856) and George Wyon (1834–1862), also became die-engravers.
Institutional and Business Connections
Employed at The Royal Mint
1851
Resident engraver [see Attwood (2004)]
Personal and Professional Connections
Mother/father/parent of Henry Wyon
See Forrer, vol. 6, (1916), p. 572.
Mother/father/parent of George William Wyon
See Forrer, vol. 6, (1916), p. 572.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed as medallist Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume VI, 1916 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
The younger son of George Wyon, and the cousin of William Wyon (1795-1851). Worked as a private assistant to William Wyon from 1825. In 1851 he was appointed on probation to the post of Resident Engraver to the Royal Mint London, and held the post permanently from 1854 to 1861. Forrer notes that 'he prepared the obverse dies for the first type of the Australian sovereign and half sovereign struck in the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint and dated 1855 and 1856. His initials J. W. occur on the obverse of a decimal penny bearing the effigy of Queen Victoria and dated 1859'. Forrer gives W. J. Hocking, 'Royal Mint Museum Catalogue', vol. 2, p. 245, as a source. See vol. 6, (1916), p. 587.
Citing this record
'James Wyon', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1240238926, accessed 30 Sep 2023]
