NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: OCTOBER 6, 2024

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V27 2024 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 27, Number 40, October 6, 2024, Article 16

Jeremy Bostwick at Numismagram forwarded these three medals from his upload of new Halloween-themed medallic art to his site. For all of the new items, please visit https://www.numismagram.com/inventory, and be on the lookout for more being added this week! -Editor

102761 | GERMANY. Hamburg. Satirical silver Medal. Issued circa 1708 or slightly thereafter. The supposed corruption of the imperial commission by the Jewish community (23mm, 3.77 g, 12h). By an uncertain medallist, marked "T." DU SOLST NICHT GESCHENCK NEHMEN (thou shalt take no gift...), hand putting forth a coin; across the middle, banner reading KOMSTU MIR ALSO (if you'll scratch my back...) // DENN GESCHENKE MACHEN DIE SEHENDEN BLIND (...for a gift blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous, –adapted from Exodus 23:8 [2nd Book of Moses]), bust facing slightly right, with hand nearly covering face, though with eyes peering through; t on sleeve; across the middle, banner reading SO KOMME ICH DIR SO (...I'll scratch yours). [The underlined legends are meant to be read as a complete message, while the non-underlined legends are meant to be a separate complete message.] Edge: Plain. Cf. GPH 1220-1 (different medallist); Brettauer 4796; Fieweger Coll. 345; cf. Vogel Coll. 8739 (gold). PCGS AU-58. Lightly toned and somewhat matte, with some scattered hairlines noted for completeness. Compare to a similar (though highly inferior) example (PCGS AU-53) from a different medalist (Wermuth) that realized a total of $660 in the Stack's Bowers 2021 NYINC auction, lot 23546. $595.

The city of Hamburg had a festering issue between its Senate and Citizens' Council in the late 17th century, with its local Jewish population a chief concern. Though a Sephardic Jewish population had much more long-standing roots in the city, the Ashkenazi population was, in contrast, much more recent and without actual legal status regarding its ability to reside there. The Citizens' Council—dominated by orthodox Protestants—along with the Lutheran clergy sought to block any concessions by the Senate to the Jewish populations, with the issue eventually escalating much higher within the hierarchy of the Holy Roman Empire.

Emperor Joseph I appointed an imperial commission, led by Damian Hugo Philipp von Schönborn-Buchheim, to settle the dispute between the Senate and Citizens' Council in Hamburg. Ultimately, the commission redefined the legal relationships of the Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish populations in Hamburg, with the regulations becoming part of the new Hamburg constitution in 1712. It is quite likely that this satirical medal, along with the various others that share a common design and message, were meant to convey the idea that the Jewish citizenry had bribed the commission for recognition of their status, furthering an antisemitic viewpoint among the largely Protestant populace. Given the contemporary works of medallists like Christian Wermuth (who also contributed to this specific "series"), and his satirical issues like the "corn Jew," the concept of antisemitic medals would be completely within the context of the period, and seemingly a likely cause that would generate such a concerted medallic effort among numerous workshops.

102613 | CANADA. Mond Nickel Company nickel Medal. Issued 1925 for the 25th anniversary of the firm (44mm, 44.22 g, 12h). By P. Metcalfe. TUM PRIMUM CONGNITA PRAEPES SUBVOLAT (then for the first time a winged thing sprang aloft, –adapted from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book XIV), Pan or impish, mischievous demon dancing left above flames, with bubbles ascending from his hands // THE MOND NICKEL COMPANY LIMITED / 1900•1925, stylized depiction of daffodils (Wales) and maple leaves (Canada), representing the two locations of the company's major interests. Edge: Plain. Choice Mint State. Even gray surfaces, with a mostly matte-like nature. $165.

102792 | GERMANY. "Homo Superior" cast bronze Medal. Issued 2002 (109mm, 460 g, 12h). By N. Müller in Halle. Two infants (one human, to right, and one avian devil-like, to left) facing one another and supported by umbilical double helix; all within industrial chamber // Similar infant, though clearly human and with a more imposing posture, supported by umbilical double helix with two mechanical connections; all within similar industrial chamber in which it barely fits. Edge: Plain. The Medal 41, pp. 97 & 100. As Made. Dusty charcoal surfaces, with some lighter hints around the devices. Very rare, and one of just 10 produced. Ex David Nicholas Silich Collection (acquired directly from the artist, November 2002). $375.

There is essentially no information to go on regarding the design and intended meaning of this large and rather provocative medal. What is known is the artist (Niels Müller), his place of study (Burg Giebichenstein Hochschule für Kunst und Design in Halle, Germany), the overall output (just 10 pieces), and that this design won (for the BAMS Student Medal Project 2002) the Niagara Falls Casting prize for the best medal from abroad. Given its rather haunting nature, one must clearly wonder if the artist is alluding to a type of human that, on account of evil influences, becomes "superior," given the work's title. However, in this sense, superior in a more imposing and rather clearly pejorative context. There also may be some technological overtones as well, given the machine-like, industrial nature of the "womb."