THE MEDALS OF ALEX SHAGIN

Alex Shagin was born near Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) in 1947. He graduated from the Vera Mukhina School of Arts and Design in Leningrad in 1972, and then designed commemorative coins and medals for the Leningrad Mint, including popular medals for the Apollo-Soyuz space ventures and for the Moscow Olympics – these are but a few of his designs. He immigrated to the United States in 1980, and since then has worked as a freelance medallic artist in Southern California. He was the 1995 recipient of the J. Sanford Saltus Award for Signal Achievement in the Art of the Medal from the American Numismatic Society. Most of the pieces offered here are cast by the artist and signed and numbered by hand-engraving.

Shagin’s medals are seldom seen in the marketplace. We expect that published “mintage” statistics reflect the original advertising and nothing more, with examples cast a few at a time, as orders came in. Many Shagin creations are probably still in the collections of those who bought them at issuance, accounting for their rarity. The nine cast pieces below comprise 2-3 times as many Shagins as I’ve had in the previous 30 years. For more on Alex Shagin see the Wikipedia article on him and Donald Scarinci’s discussion of his work at a recent FIDEM Congress.

1984 George Orwell, English writer, a political god to conservatives, with their belief in the worth of the individual. Bronze, 78mm, #20 of an edition of 84(!). $165.

1985 Ronald Reagan, second inauguration, cast bronze, curved surface, 106 x 85 mm. FREE-STANDING and HUGE. A political god to FAKE CONSERVATIVES, who laud the individual and slam the government, but who always side with the government against the people, collectively and individually. This should probably be $225, but I just can’t get myself to price Reagan higher than Orwell. $165

1985 Maimonides, medieval Spanish-Egyptian Philosopher and Jewish Theologian, for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem, cast silver, 149.4 gr., 75 x 79 mm. $395.

1987 Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor and Nobel Laureate, cast sterling silver, 350.5 gr., 66 x 69 mm. Both the portrait and the words (“SPEAKING THE TRUTH TO THE POWER”) are….powerful! $495.

To read the complete article, see:
Medals of Alex Shagin (www.pauljbosco.com/shagin.htm)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web