VOCABULARY TERM: STUDY COPY

Study Copy. Usually a plaster cast of a numismatic or medallic item intended for artistic or scholarly study. Museums sometimes provide this service – to supplement or in place of a photograph – for someone at a distance to study the three-dimensionality of a specimen in their collection. Such study copies are impermanent (the plaster may easily break), however, large cabinets of these have been formed. Their use beyond the original need for close-up study and comparison with similar specimens is extremely limited. Study copies are a form of private copies and are most often of one side only, thus two separate casts are required of a two-sided object. They have little resale value, but do make excellent objects for framing. See copies and replicas, plaster casting.

By extension, a study copy is also the term applied to a fully struck medal, of any composition, in the possession of a medallic artist for the purpose of studying the design or relief. A medallist can adapt a design element to a new project knowing it has been satisfactorily used previously (but this does reduce somewhat the creativity of the piece). However a skilled medallist can easily perceive how to model such a relief portion of a struck or cast piece from inspection alone of an existing medal. It often saves time to observe such designs and relief techniques. Medallist Joseph Di Lorenzo, noted for his rapid creation of medallic models, had a large collection of these study copies of other medalists' work in his studio for easy reference.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Study Copy (https://nnp.washu.edu/Documents/Detail/study-copy/4362361)

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