NUMISMAGRAM SELECTIONS: MARCH 2021

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 10, March 7, 2021, Article 20

Jeremy Bostwick at Numismagram passed along these highlights from his most recent addition of new tokens and art medals to his website. One will notice a particular focus upon aviation-themed types—most of which feature a zeppelin—as well as medals drawing inspiration from older coin designs. There are also some rather interestingly engraved pieces, ranging from love to satire and military. To view all of these new items, please visit numismagram.com/inventory. -Editor

Issued 1696 (32mm, 14.76 g, 12h). By C. Wermuth. IMP • CÆS • DOMIT • AVG • GERM • P • M • TR • P • CENS • PERP • COS • XVII • P • P •, laureate head right / Biographical inscription in 19 lines. Edge: REGNVM FALLAX BONVM. Bürchner 13; Forrer VI, 444. Choice Mint State. Deep gunmetal gray surfaces, with a good deal of iridescence and underlying luster. Very rare and highly attractive. Compare to a similar example that realized a hammer of €750 in Numismatica Ars Classica 53 (7 November 2009, lot 684) and then realized a hammer of €950 in Gorny & Mosch 221 (12 March 2014, lot 3371). $695.

Medalist Christian Wermuth produced a series of portrait medals chronicling the imperial figures of the Roman Empire as well as those of the later Holy Roman Empire. Featuring a classical bust and lines of biographical text on the reverse, this issue celebrates Domitian, the younger son of Vespasian, who ruled from C.E. 81-96. An autocrat who was the opposite of his elder brother and predecessor, Titus, he was assassinated by court officials and would be the final member of what Suetonius described as 'the Twelve Caesars.'

Issued 1969. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of the university (43mm, 27.86 g, 12h). LEOPOLDVS • D • G • R • I • S • A • COND • VNIV • ÆNIPONT •, laureate, draped, and armored bust right, wearing Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece / CCC : ANNIVERSARIVM : SOLLEMNITER : AGENS, crowned imperial eagle facing, with head left and wings spread. Edge: BRIXLEGGER AUSBEUTE [axe & hammer] BRIXLEGGER AUSBEUTE [axe & hammer] 925. Gem Mint State. Exceedingly brilliant and prooflike, with highly frosted devices and some alluring burnished toning on the obverse. $225.

Exhibiting the effects of the 'Habsburg jaw,' Leopold was Holy Roman Emperor from 1658-1705 and the product of many generations of close familial marriages. As such, his lower lip, along with that of many in the Habsburg line, was rather pronounced, and numismatics offers a great glimpse into the hereditary defect. He is maybe most known in the coin collecting community by the unfortunate appellation as 'the Hogmouth.'

I was born duck-footed, but that didn't stop my gradeschool classmates from calling me "Pigeon Toes". Hooray for Leo the Hogmouth. -Editor

101544 | FRANCE. Montgolfière and Charlière Balloons silver Stamp Dispenser Lid.

Issued circa 1950 (53mm, 70.28 g). After A. Pajou. AUDACIA FELIX, Montgolfière (hot air, in foreground) and Charlière (hydrogen, in background) balloons in flight; in four lines in exergue, AERA PERMEARUNT XXI. NOV. / L. F. DARLANDES ET F. PILATRE / I. DEC. J. A. C. CHARLES / ET M. N. ROBERT / Blank, with grooved rim for placement onto the stamp-dispensing body. Edge: Plain. Cf. Malpas 6 (for prototype). Essentially as issued. Lightly toned, with a few scattered spots. An interesting form of exonumia after this popular aviation type. $195.

Though airships such as the first planes and Zeppelins wouldn't make their appearance until the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of conquering the power of flight had been a constant challenge, and one that was finally achieved through the manned flights—each in 1783 in France—by Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers (in gas balloon, referred to as the "Charlière") and the Montgolfier brothers (Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier; in a hot air balloon, referred to as the Montgolfière).

If you've never taken a ride in a hot air balloon, put it on your bucket list. Great fun. -Editor

101543 | GREAT BRITAIN & SOUTH AFRICA. Second Boer War satirical engraved copper Penny

(30mm, 9.11 g, 12h). 1880 London mint Victory penny, with engraving upon obverse and reverse: Bonnet and military jacket, with "SA" upon collar / Cross-hatching across Britannia. Edge: Plain. Cf. SCBC 3954 (for host coin); cf. KM 755 (same). Engraving: Extremely Fine; Host coin: Very Fine. $225.

Though we've had one of these in the past and presented it as a women's suffrage theme, new evidence has been discovered pointing toward their actual meaning: a small handful of Victorian pennies such as these were altered during the Second Boer War in South Africa. Boer soldiers wanted to satirize the British empress and presented her in a convict uniform as indication of her status as a prisoner of war. On some examples, an S (for "South Africa") is present, while, on others (as here), an SA is present. Further, this example features additional engraving on the reverse—a cross-hatching pattern indicating that Britannia herself is encaged and in prison. A very interesting and rare piece, with only about 15 examples known.

101551 | GREAT BRITAIN & INDIA. Alfred C. Bullymore engraved silver WWI ID Badge or Memento

(25mm, 4.04 g, 12 h). 1916 Indian rupee, with engraving upon obverse: rudimentary emblem of the Royal Army Medical Corps (serpent-entwined staff surmounted by crown and within wreath) between "36561 SGT A • C • BULLYMORE;" "R•A•M•C" on banner below. Edge: Reeded. Cf. KM 524 (for host coin). Engraving & host coin: Extremely Fine. Lightly toned; holed to left and right for wearing. $325.

Alfred Cleaveland Bullymore was born ca. July–September 1886 in Thrapston in Northamptonshire, with census records showing him as a servant in the Blunsom household in nearby Kettering in 1901, and then as a boarder and hosiery assistant in London a decade later. He eventually found himself serving in World War I, at which point he was listed as an acting sergeant in 1914 with the Royal Army Medical Corps (service number 36561). Following the war, Bullymore appears to have relocated to Birmingham, where he married Mary A. Thursfield in 1921 (in Aston) and passed away in 1957 (in Sutton Coldfield).