Description
Austria, Winner of the Grand National 1883 – Count Kinsky on Zoedone, AE plaque 1908 (105x75mm) by R Placht and issued on his election as President of the Austrian Jockey Club. Bust of Prince Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau. Rev. Charles, Count Kinsky on Zoedone as winner of the 1883 Grand National (after a painting*).
Good Extremely Fine, evenly toned.
Ex Dr. P. Julius Collection, with original ticket.
*The depiction of Kinsky on Zoedone is after a painting by the American-born artist and prolific painter of racehorses, Isaac James Cullin (1859-1942).
Kinsky’s first visit to England was as part of the retinue of the Hapsburg Empress Elizabeth. Attending the Grand National so inspired him that he competed in the 1883 race and won on his own horse, from the family’s own Kinsky breed, the mare Zoedone. (which was poisoned two years later on the day of the same race !). He was appointed the Austro-Hungarian attaché and whilst here had an affair with Lady Randolph Churchill. England became his home but he had to return on the outbreak of the Great War, fighting on the Russian Front. He survived this ordeal only to die a few months later in 1919 a broken man after returning to a dismembered country with the ‘ancien regime’ swept away.
