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German Renaissance Medal - Raymund Fugger by Friedrich Hagenauer

Raymund Fugger


Lead, 41.7 mm Ø, 25.3 g

By Friedrich Hagenauer, 1527.

Obverse: Bust of Raymund Fugger facing left, bareheaded, bearded, and with bare chest. Around, RAIMVNDVS · FVGGER · AVGVSTANS · VIND · ETATIS · ANNO · XXXVII · (Raymund Fugger of Augsburg, Aged 37), with a flower separating the beginning and end of the inscription. Beneath the bust, the artist's signature in the form of a ligature FH.

Reverse: Inscription on five lines: PVDE / AT AMICI / DIEM PERDI / DISSE. / M . D . XXVII . (Friends, we should be ashamed of having wasted one day. 1527). Beneath the inscription, a floral spray.

Raymund Fugger, the third son of Georg Fugger, was born on October 24, 1489, in Augsburg. He married Katherina Thurzó in 1513. Upon the death in 1525 of his uncle, Jakob Fugger "the Rich", Raymund and his brother Anton became head of the family business. They received many privileges from the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, due to their financial links and fidelity to the Catholic faith. Charles elevated both of them to the status of hereditary counts of the empire at the diet of Augsburg in 1530, and they were granted the right to mint coins in 1534. Raymund maintained interests in science, classical antiquity, and art, and commissioned several medals of himself. He died of a stroke on December 3, 1535.

The obverse inscription uses the Roman name for Augsburg, "Augusta Vindelicorum". The reverse inscription "pudeat amici diem pardidisse" was Raymund's motto, and is derived from the writings of Suetonius. Suetonius wrote that the emperor Titus, upon realizing one evening that he had done nobody any favor that day, had remarked "Amici, diem perdidi" (Friends, I have wasted a day).

Reference: Habich 1929-34, no. 470

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