Common Ground-Dove ~ First Breeding Award Medal

My most recent purchase and research project is a vintage Avicultural Society breeding award medal, that was sold by auction as part of the John Shepherd collection. Awarded in 1908 to W. E. Teschemaker of Kingmore, Teignmouth, Devon for the first UK captive breeding of Chamaepelia griseola (Now known as Columbina minuta) a minute ground dove native to British Guyana, South America.

Above: Common Ground-Dove - Chamaepelia griseola  (Now known as the Plain-breasted ground dove - Columbina minuta)

  

Above: Article written by Mr Teschemaker, on the first breeding for the Avicultural Magazine. 

Research shows Mr Teschemaker, kept a wide variety of species and was awarded many Avicultural Society medals over the years, with first breeding records listing an incredible 45 awards. Further digging reveals this was not the first Teschemaker medal to go on sale to the open market as another for the Blue Grosbeak - Guiraca cyanea was sold in 2005 for £120.00 despite a guide price of £40-£50

The Society's Medal Rules

The medal may be awarded at the discretion of the Council to any individual member or member institution who succeeds in breeding, in the United Kingdom, any species of bird that is not known to have previously bred under controlled conditions in the UK. Any member wishing to obtain the medal must send a detailed account for publication in the Avicultural Magazine and furnish such evidence of the facts as the Council may require. The account of the breeding must be reasonably full to afford instruction to our members. It should describe the plumage of the young, and be of value as a record of the nesting and general habits of the species. The medal will be awarded only where the young survive to be self-feeding and wholly independent of their parents.

The award of a medal for the breeding of a sub-species of a species that has already bred shall be at the discretion of the Council. No medal will be given for the breeding of hybrids or colour mutations. In every case, the decision of the Council shall be final.

The Medal is struck in bronze (but the Committee reserves the right to issue it in silver in very special cases) and measures 2 1/2" in diameter. It bears on the obverse a representation of two birds with a nest containing eggs, and the words The Avicultural Society-founded 1984". On the reverse is the following Inscription: "Awarded to [name of recipient] for rearing the young of [same of species), a species not previously bred in captivity in the United Kingdom.