The Grand Junction Canal was London's principal link with the rest of England's canal system. Construction began in 1793 and the chairman of the Company was William Praed for whom Soane was at that time designing Tyringham, 1792-1801 (q.v.). Soane's variant designs for a seal or badge are architectural and perhaps there was an idea that the screen with its sculpture and inscriptions would actually be built. The site may have been the Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction Canal, opened in 1801, and 'terminating in a 400 yard long basin, 30 yards wide, around which were wharves, a hay and straw market, sheds for warehousing, and pens for livestock'. The basin (Paddington Basin) was drained in 2000 and it now the site for high rise mixed-use development. It seems unlikely that the badge/seal/medallion was struck.
(Information from www.canalmuseum.org.uk/history/grandjun.htm)

Jill Lever, November 2012