38mm. 29.5g. Unsigned although it is housed in a John Pinches fitted box.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bancroft prize medal. Obverse with half portrait of William Shakespeare, reverse named within wreath to Brewster Mason, 1948.
This medal tests as between 9ct & 10ct gold when scanned with an XRF gun. It certainly feels heavier than a base metal, however, it is not hallmarked. It is accompanied by a silver and enamelled medal, also awarded to Mason, by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Brewster Mason (30 August 1922 – 14 August 1987) was an English stage actor who also appeared in films and on television. He made his stage debut at the Finsbury Park Open Air Theatre in 1947. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1963 and 1987, and his parts included Earl of Warwick in The Wars of The Roses (1963 and 1964), Claudius in Hamlet opposite David Warner's portrayal of the title character (1965 and 1966), Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (1966), Lafau (in All's Well That Ends Well) and Banquo (in Macbeth) in 1967, Julius Caesar and Falstaff (in The Merry Wives of Windsor) in 1968, Women Beware Women, Wolsey (in Henry VIII) and Falstaff (in When Thou Art King) in 1969, Undershaft in Major Barbara (1970), Othello (1971), Falstaff in Henry IV (1975) and Gaunt in Richard II in 1986. He was an actor of great presence, possessing a distinctive and beautiful voice. He appeared in The Affair in 1962 on Broadway. His film appearances included The Dam Busters (1954), as Guy Gibson's rear gunner Flt. Lt. R.D. Trevor-Roper, and Private Potter (1962) as the Brigadier.
In the late 1960s, early 1970s, and early 1980s he taught classical acting at the University of California, Irvine.
He died aged 64 following a fall when he was appearing in Richard II at the Barbican Theatre in London.