The original was lost to the nation in 1900, but the Nelson Society sees 2005 as the ideal time to restore to the public one of Nelson’s Naval Gold Medals – albeit a reproduction in gold, silver gilt and bronze gilt.

As part of the bicentenary celebrations the Nelson Society is producing a facsimile of the Naval Gold Medal for Trafalgar, awarded posthumously to the hero of the Senior Service.

This final medal was engraved: “Horatio Viscount Nelson, Vice Admiral and Commander in Chief on the 21 October 1805. The combined fleets of Spain and France defeated.”

The face of the medal showed the goddess Victory crowning Britannia on the prow of a galley with the Union Jack in the background, symbolising British triumph in maritime conflicts.

But this emblem of Nelson’s victory went missing on a wintry night in early December 1900, when a thief stole priceless items from an exhibition in the Painted Hall at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Among the burglar’s loot were Nelson’s three precious Naval Gold Medals, a mark of honour awarded to admirals and captains present at certain Naval engagements in the Napoleonic Wars.

Some years later Scotland Yard finally fingered their man after the offer of a £200 reward proved too tempting for a grasping nature, but all that was recovered from the villain’s original haul was Nelson’s watch and seal.

The Nelson Society intends that these full-size replica medals will be a permanent reminder to collectors and others of the Navy’s revered hero and the great victory achieved by the Royal Navy 200 years ago.

For a full version of the history of the medal’s theft, see the article by Anthony Cross published in the Quarterly Journal of the 1805 Club.