(sold for $56.0)

1932, Australia. Large Bronze "Opening of Sydney Harbourg Bridge" Medal. XF-AU!

Mint Year: 1923 Medallist: Rose Phipps (for Angus & Coote)   Denomination: Medal - Opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1932. Condition: Minimal greenish deposits (verdigris), otherwise XF-AU! Weight: 87.65gm Diameter: 63mm Material: Bronze

Obverse: Admiring winged figure beneath a standing worker and a seated architect holding wreath over bridge. Symbols of industy and science below, boats and ships behind, below and in front of the bridge.   Reverse: Inscripion in six lines within wreath entwined by inscribed banner with motto (LABORE ET HONORE). Legend: HARBOUR BRIDGE SYDNEY. N.S.W. OPENED MARCH 19 1932

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a heritage-listed steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. Nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design, the bridge carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

Under the direction of John Bradfield of the New South Wales Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long of Middlesbrough (who based the design on their 1928 Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne) and opened in 1932. The bridge's general design, which Bradfield tasked the NSW Department of Public Works with producing, was a rough copy of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. This general design document, however, did not form any part of the request for tender, which remained sufficiently broad as to allow cantilever (Bradfield's original preference) and even suspension bridge proposals. The design chosen from the tender responses was original work created by Dorman Long, who leveraged some of the design from their own Tyne Bridge which, though superficially similar, does not share the graceful flares at the ends of each arch which make the harbour bridge so distinctive. It is the eighth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m (440 ft) from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver was completed in 2012.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge went on to be added to the Australian National Heritage List on 19 March 2007 and to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 June 1999.