Object numberM2011/025:005
DescriptionRare gold coin from British India dated 1911. The obverse side of the coin depicts the head of King George V. Text across the circumference reads: ‘GEORGIVS.V D.C. BRITT.OMN:REX F.D. IND: IMP.’ The reverse side features St George mounted on a horse slaying a dragon with his sword. The date ‘1911’ appears at the bottom of the coin with the initials ‘B.P.’ in the right corner.
One of three coins form part of the collection related to the wedding of Miklos and Grace Grunberg who married on 29 October 1944 in the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Bombay, India. Miklos (born in 1918) was a Hungarian Ashkenazi Jew who came to India after fleeing Hungary in 1938. Grace Cohen (born in 1922) was a Sephardi Jewess born in Calcutta.
Their Ketubah (traditional Jewish wedding document), stored in a cylindrical, silver container, is inscribed: ‘Micky to Grace Forever, 29 October 1944.’ At Jewish weddings, the couple breaks a glass, showing they place Jerusalem above their highest joy. It is custom for some that the groom recites the sentence from Psalms, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.” (Psalms 137:5). Four ceramic shards, creamy-white in colour, are the remains of the vessel which was broken by the groom, Miklos Grunberg, with his foot during the ceremony, a symbolic gesture as a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 568 CE. Once the vessel is broken (commonly, the vessel is made of glass), the remaining shards remind the couple how fragile the bond of marriage is, and how they must care for their marriage with love and understanding. The coins in the collection are also likely a part of the symbolic binding of their marriage.
Donor Cilla Wober, daughter
One of three coins form part of the collection related to the wedding of Miklos and Grace Grunberg who married on 29 October 1944 in the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Bombay, India. Miklos (born in 1918) was a Hungarian Ashkenazi Jew who came to India after fleeing Hungary in 1938. Grace Cohen (born in 1922) was a Sephardi Jewess born in Calcutta.
Their Ketubah (traditional Jewish wedding document), stored in a cylindrical, silver container, is inscribed: ‘Micky to Grace Forever, 29 October 1944.’ At Jewish weddings, the couple breaks a glass, showing they place Jerusalem above their highest joy. It is custom for some that the groom recites the sentence from Psalms, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.” (Psalms 137:5). Four ceramic shards, creamy-white in colour, are the remains of the vessel which was broken by the groom, Miklos Grunberg, with his foot during the ceremony, a symbolic gesture as a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 568 CE. Once the vessel is broken (commonly, the vessel is made of glass), the remaining shards remind the couple how fragile the bond of marriage is, and how they must care for their marriage with love and understanding. The coins in the collection are also likely a part of the symbolic binding of their marriage.
Donor Cilla Wober, daughter
Production placeIndia
Production date 1911
Subjectweddings, religious ceremonies
Object namecoins
Materialgold
Dimensions
- diameter: 22.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ms Cilla Wober