MORE ON GEORGE WINCKLER

I do not really qualify as an expert, and I hope I may be excused if I repeat what Mr Levy already knows, but this appears to be a boxwood (Buchsbaumholz) medal (Medaille) or model for a medal from the Reformation era. This would be a unique and valuable piece if it could be authenticated. Fine boxwood carving has been continued into the present, and such a piece could be a later copy or an outright fake. Further research is likely to take some serious digging in German language sources.

The name IORG, as has already been pointed out, is a variant of the name George: in German Georg and Jörg are the most common forms, and in older German I and J are interchangeable. The umlaut would likely be left off the O on a medal but would usually be added if searching for the person represented.

Hans Schwartz is the most famous German medallist and boxwood carver of that period, but consulting an extensive monograph on his work in my library (really the only appropriate book I have), I find no mention of Winckler. But there were a number of other boxwood carvers, and it is to these that serious research should be directed. Sorry to say, that's about all I can offer. Best of Luck, and I hope to read of the results in a future E-sylum issue.

I initially believed that the IORG WINCKLER depicted on David Levy's wooden medallion was the Protestant Reformation martyr as noted by Kerry Wetterstrom. As I looked into this further, I've come up with another candidate. There was a Georg Winckler (b. 1495, d. 1559) who may have been from the family of the Nuremberg goldsmith and engraver Georg Winckler (b. 1471, d. 1542). I located a 1536 engraving that may be associated with Levy's piece.

 

Based on the reverse legend, I searched and found a 1533 marriage record in St. Sebald in Nuremberg for Georg Winckler and Elisabeth Tucherin. I considered that perhaps the medallion commemorated Georg Winckler having two marriages, with Margareta Kruegin being his second wife. However, I found a record that indicates Elisabeth Tucherin was born in 1514 and died in 1538. So, these dates do not fit how I would like. Though perhaps Margareta Kruegin was Winckler's first wife, and this medal is somehow commemorative of his marriage to Elisabetha Tucherin. I found no information on Margareta except that her surname could be Krug. I located Tucher, Krug, and Winckler's coats of arms to match the medallion.

 

There is a Nuremberg Coin Cabinet catalog (Sammlung eines Nürnbergischen Münz-Cabinets, Nuremberg, 1782) that I think may describe medals related to this engraving and perhaps to David Levy's item. I'm not confident with my translations, so I will just add them here, and maybe a reader can assist.

 

 

Of numismatic note! There is another Elisabeth Tucher (d. 1473, d. 1517) from the same Tucher family whose famed portrait is on the German 20-mark note from 1961 to 1992.

 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsbeth_Tucher
https://villaluginsland.com/the-tucher-family-and-the-arts/
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Bb-16-1175
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sammlung_eines_
N%C3%BCrnbergischen_M%C3%BCnz_Cab/sbN-stdu--YC?hl=en&gbpv=1

Trey adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 21, 2024 : Query: 1536 IORG WINCKLER Medallic (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n16a10.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 28, 2024 : On Protestant Reformation Martyr George Winckler (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n17a10.html)

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