Some things come in nice packages

cardinal

I picked this up just recently.

jesbroken

Absolutely, a great package with great content.
Jim

ricko

Very nice...and interesting. I had not heard of this medal or the group. Thanks for the information. Cheers, RickO

Hydrant

Beautiful.

MsMorrisine

magnificent

Goldenage

Outstanding.

asheland

Very cool!

cardinal

I like the intent of the "Circle of Friends of the Medallion" --

ECHOES

This is really Cool...

MsMorrisine

nice to be in that circle.

even more a piece to preserve.

NumisOxide

Cool!!

cardinal

Here's a zoom in to the medal:

ELVIS1

It's just Fantastic..

ECHOES

Absolutely Beautiful...

Edit to add,
I have this thread book-marked. I find material of this type fascinating.
@cardinal Thankyou for sharing...

Zoins

Awesome medal @cardinal!

I posted one a while back here:

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1020322/circle-of-friends-of-the-medallion

Here's what a full set looks like from Medal Collectors of America, photo from Dick Johnson:

https://www.medalcollectors.org/Guides/CoF/CoF.html

Here's the full lists of the Circle's medals. It's amazing that they had so many members.

Zoins

@cardinal said:
I like the intent of the "Circle of Friends of the Medallion" --

Imagine a club like that today?

skier07

That’s incredibly cool!!!

MrEureka

From Wikipedia:

Circle of Friends of the Medallion was formed by Charles DeKay, Robert Hewitt, Jr., and the French-American trio of Jules Edouard Roiné with brothers Felix and Henri Weil, all living in New York City.[1] De Kay, "a newspaperman and art lover" provided the contacts to form the Circle of Friends of the Medallion, often referred to as the Circle of Friends,[2] while Hewitt, "a Manhattan real estate investor" provided the funds for its development.[3] Jules Edouard Roiné and Felix Weil ran the Roiné, Weil and Company (1908-1916) which they collaborated with Henri. Upon Roiné's passing in 1916, Felix and Henri Weil[4] operated the Medallic Art Company of New York. The three men, via both companies, made the 1st, 2nd and 12th medals in the series.[1] Joseph K. Davison & Sons of Philadelphia struck the other medals.[1]

The Circle of Friends issued a total of twelve medals from 1909 to 1915.[2] Numismatists estimate that the Circle of Friends issued "no more than 500 of any" medal in the series and each was professionally presented in "tan cloth books."[1] De Kay wrote the articles that accompanied the medals.[5] The medals were not offered for public sale.[2] Instead, they were issued to a small group of collectors that formed the Circle of Friends.[2]

The Circle of Friends commissioned leading medalists of the time to create the series and the medals were superbly designed with interesting themes, often commemorating significant events, places or people.[3] A few of the medals broke from traditional design by using oblong and oval edge shapes.[2] The Circle of Friends consisted of approximately 400 members, including several prominent individuals such as "inventor Alexander Graham Bell, financier J. Pierpont Morgan, U.S. Mint Director A. Piatt Andrew, two U.S. senators, well-known coin dealer Wayte Raymond and sculptors Flanagan, Brenner and Bela Lyon Pratt."[2]

Although the Circle of Friends only existed for a few years, it significantly impacted exonumia in two ways. Firstly, private collectors designed and executed a medal series for the first time in America. This provided a new form of expression for American artists using American themes and it boosted patron involvement in medallic art. Secondly, the Circle of Friends laid the groundwork for future medallic endeavors in America and increased the experience base of important individuals and organizations in the field, such as the Medallic Art Company. Later, the Medallic Art Company struck the prestigious series produced by The Society of Medalists.[6]

291fifth

This is the first time I have seen a color photo of one of the "Circle" medals in it's original book. I wonder how many have been removed from the books over the years with the books then becoming lost?

cardinal

@MrEureka said:
From Wikipedia:

Circle of Friends of the Medallion was formed by Charles DeKay, Robert Hewitt, Jr., and the French-American trio of Jules Edouard Roiné with brothers Felix and Henri Weil, all living in New York City.[1] De Kay, "a newspaperman and art lover" provided the contacts to form the Circle of Friends of the Medallion, often referred to as the Circle of Friends,[2] while Hewitt, "a Manhattan real estate investor" provided the funds for its development.[3] Jules Edouard Roiné and Felix Weil ran the Roiné, Weil and Company (1908-1916) which they collaborated with Henri. Upon Roiné's passing in 1916, Felix and Henri Weil[4] operated the Medallic Art Company of New York. The three men, via both companies, made the 1st, 2nd and 12th medals in the series.[1] Joseph K. Davison & Sons of Philadelphia struck the other medals.[1]

The Circle of Friends issued a total of twelve medals from 1909 to 1915.[2] Numismatists estimate that the Circle of Friends issued "no more than 500 of any" medal in the series and each was professionally presented in "tan cloth books."[1] De Kay wrote the articles that accompanied the medals.[5] The medals were not offered for public sale.[2] Instead, they were issued to a small group of collectors that formed the Circle of Friends.[2]

The Circle of Friends commissioned leading medalists of the time to create the series and the medals were superbly designed with interesting themes, often commemorating significant events, places or people.[3] A few of the medals broke from traditional design by using oblong and oval edge shapes.[2] The Circle of Friends consisted of approximately 400 members, including several prominent individuals such as "inventor Alexander Graham Bell, financier J. Pierpont Morgan, U.S. Mint Director A. Piatt Andrew, two U.S. senators, well-known coin dealer Wayte Raymond and sculptors Flanagan, Brenner and Bela Lyon Pratt."[2]

Although the Circle of Friends only existed for a few years, it significantly impacted exonumia in two ways. Firstly, private collectors designed and executed a medal series for the first time in America. This provided a new form of expression for American artists using American themes and it boosted patron involvement in medallic art. Secondly, the Circle of Friends laid the groundwork for future medallic endeavors in America and increased the experience base of important individuals and organizations in the field, such as the Medallic Art Company. Later, the Medallic Art Company struck the prestigious series produced by The Society of Medalists.[6]

Awesome!! Thanks for all the info!!

kaz

Sign me up!
... shoot, 109 years to late.

trueblood

Now that is new and different albeit from the early 1900's.

Zoins

@MrEureka said:
From Wikipedia:

Circle of Friends of the Medallion was formed by Charles DeKay, Robert Hewitt, Jr., and the French-American trio of Jules Edouard Roiné with brothers Felix and Henri Weil, all living in New York City.[1] De Kay, "a newspaperman and art lover" provided the contacts to form the Circle of Friends of the Medallion, often referred to as the Circle of Friends,[2] while Hewitt, "a Manhattan real estate investor" provided the funds for its development.[3] Jules Edouard Roiné and Felix Weil ran the Roiné, Weil and Company (1908-1916) which they collaborated with Henri. Upon Roiné's passing in 1916, Felix and Henri Weil[4] operated the Medallic Art Company of New York. The three men, via both companies, made the 1st, 2nd and 12th medals in the series.[1] Joseph K. Davison & Sons of Philadelphia struck the other medals.[1]

Very interesting. Dick Johnson wrote a different history that includes Edward and Charles Deitsch who aren't mentioned at all on Wikipedia. From reading Dick's article, it seems like the first two medals were made by a medallic company owned by Edward and Charles Deitsch, who employed Henri Weil. After the first two medals, the Deitsches sold their equipment to the Weils. Is that a logical reading of Dick's article?

His article is hosted by the Medal Collectors of America at the following link. I'm including the article here because I'm not sure how long this website will remain operational as the navigation image links are broken.

https://www.medalcollectors.org/Guides/CoF/CoF.html

Circle of Friends of the Medallion

Both text and pictures are Copyright © 1977, 2004
By D. Wayne Johnson

The early history of the Circle of Friends of the Medallion, America’s first private collector medal series, are intertwined among two sets of brothers and two other men, all of New York City. Most important, perhaps, were the Weil brothers, Henri and Felix, who made the first medals and who later were to operate the Medallic Art Company. Henri had worked for the other set of brothers, Edward and Charles Deitsch, who operated a medallic company for a brief time.

The other two men were Robert Hewitt Jr. and Charles de Kay. Hewitt was a medal collector, forming an extensive collection of Lincoln medals (which he later donated to the U.S. National Collection at the Smithsonian). De Kay was an author, newspaper columnist, gadabout, and today would be called a “jetsetter.”

Both men had traveled extensively and had purchased medals in Europe. At this time there were two series of medals currently being issued, one in Paris (Société des Amis de la Médaille Française), another in Belgium (Société Hollandaise-Belge des Amis de la Médaille d’Art). Who got the idea to commence a similar series of medals in America, we do not know.

But Hewitt and de Kay approached the Deitsch brothers to produce the medals. Hewitt, who had made his fortune in New York City real estate, probably underwrote the venture. De Kay would promote the series, both in his writings and among his vast circle of friends, including the well-to-do and art patrons.

The Deitsches were involved only for a brief time. They wanted out after the first two medals were issued. They sold the medal-making equipment to the Weils (and ultimately the Medallic Art Company name), but surreptitiously sold the rights to the Circle of Friends to their competitors in Philadelphia, Joseph K. Davison’s Sons. After four years and nine medals Davison’s dropped out.

The Weils produced the last medal – number 12 – but the series lacked the momentum to carry on after that. However, the series did serve a greater purpose, perhaps, as the forerunner for The Society of Medalists, which began at Medallic Art Company a generation later, in 1930.

The Medals were issued in diecut pages bound in tan cloth books making the set a bookshelf collection. From published membership lists it can be surmised that no more than 500 of any of medals were issued. Allan Newman’s number twelve is the scarcest. Victor Brenner’s number four, Motherhood, is the most popular. Paul Manship’s number eleven is the most expensive (sought after by art galleries). Members of the Bahai religion seek issue number seven, of Abdul Baha, since their religion did not sanction portraits.

Edgelettering varies. The first two issues bear a diamond-D mintmark of the Deitsch brothers (later reissues bear a Medallic Art Company name). Davison’s usually spelled out their last name in full. Issue number twelve is, of course, signed Medallic Art Company.

Printers and binders varied as well over the seven-year term. Their names are found in the colophon at the end of each volume. Two such varying names exist on issues four and nine.

Zoins

Bill Carm carries these and has a nice set of photos for various issues:

http://www.medalsandtokens.com/?category=Circle+of+Friends

Treashunt

Love it.

jesbroken

@cardinal
Were you the Worthpoint bidder that won this CoF Medallion? Just curious.
Jim

cardinal

@jesbroken said:
@cardinal
Were you the Worthpoint bidder that won this CoF Medallion? Just curious.
Jim

Unless that item was posted on more than one venue, as I got on eBay.

jesbroken

I was interested in the Joan of Arc but bid was so High I left and don't even know what it went for. lol
I'm glad you got that, as it is very classy. There was a 1 through 6 set that sold for $750 on worthpoint a while ago, now that would have been a steal.
Jim

Smudge

That is a very impressive piece.