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As you can imagine I don't get a whole lot of time to browse the bourse floor at the shows, but I do manage to make the most of my lunch hours. It also helps that I scouted out certain pieces I was interested in at prior shows and online.
My collection at this point is quite small. I recently sold off "The Darkhorse" collection on eBay, which was just a mishmash of material I had accumulated over the past decade. Now I'm just focusing on few pieces that I think are interesting in that I find of them of some historical interest, artistic merit, or I find them just pain unusual.
Case in point, a 1702 Queen Anne Coronation medal that I purchased from Atlas. This is a very coin-like medal, as it was apparently made by the Treasury. The obverse portrait is similar to circulating issues, although the legend is modified. But what I really like about the medal is the reverse. Look at it! You've got Queen Anne as Pallas holding thunderbolts, the light of heaven at her back, smiting a loathsome, vile, club-and-rock-wielding beast with two heads (possibly representing disobedient Scots and Irishmen), and some sort of fish body with snakes coming out of it.
The legend reads vicem gerit illa Tonantis, or in other words VICE-REGENT OF THE THUNDERER. How cool is that?
I've wanted a full, ornate, Thaler for a while now. But where to begin? I spotted a piece from Karl Stephens at a prior Long Beach show that luckily had still not been purchased. It's a choice toned EF Saxony Thaler from 1630. This coin seemed a good place to start, I call it an "Entry-level" Thaler so to speak.
What I like about it is that it's like something out of Game of Thrones: 1630 was deep in the midst of the 30 Years War. Death, disease, distruction were rampant. Alliances and political intrigue and deceptions were prevalent. The Elector of Saxony Johan Georg had his part to play in it. However, as a ruler he was pretty deficient; having suffered quite a number of military defeats, and having ill-chosen alliances and policies. He was also a drunk. In other words, someone who would've fit right in in the world of Game of Thones.
I love the fanciful, self-aggrandizing portrait. And the coin conveniently cuts off to conceal the Elector's girth. Look at him!
My collection at this point is quite small. I recently sold off "The Darkhorse" collection on eBay, which was just a mishmash of material I had accumulated over the past decade. Now I'm just focusing on few pieces that I think are interesting in that I find of them of some historical interest, artistic merit, or I find them just pain unusual.
Case in point, a 1702 Queen Anne Coronation medal that I purchased from Atlas. This is a very coin-like medal, as it was apparently made by the Treasury. The obverse portrait is similar to circulating issues, although the legend is modified. But what I really like about the medal is the reverse. Look at it! You've got Queen Anne as Pallas holding thunderbolts, the light of heaven at her back, smiting a loathsome, vile, club-and-rock-wielding beast with two heads (possibly representing disobedient Scots and Irishmen), and some sort of fish body with snakes coming out of it.
The legend reads vicem gerit illa Tonantis, or in other words VICE-REGENT OF THE THUNDERER. How cool is that?
I've wanted a full, ornate, Thaler for a while now. But where to begin? I spotted a piece from Karl Stephens at a prior Long Beach show that luckily had still not been purchased. It's a choice toned EF Saxony Thaler from 1630. This coin seemed a good place to start, I call it an "Entry-level" Thaler so to speak.
What I like about it is that it's like something out of Game of Thrones: 1630 was deep in the midst of the 30 Years War. Death, disease, distruction were rampant. Alliances and political intrigue and deceptions were prevalent. The Elector of Saxony Johan Georg had his part to play in it. However, as a ruler he was pretty deficient; having suffered quite a number of military defeats, and having ill-chosen alliances and policies. He was also a drunk. In other words, someone who would've fit right in in the world of Game of Thones.
I love the fanciful, self-aggrandizing portrait. And the coin conveniently cuts off to conceal the Elector's girth. Look at him!
Radiant Collection: Numismatics and Exonumia of the Atomic Age.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/3232
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TalerUniverse.com is a curated numismatic project dedicated to the silver talers, crowns, and medals of the Habsburg Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, spanning the 16th–18th centuries. The collection emphasizes historically significant issues, rare mint varieties, and high-grade NGC/PCGS examples, presented with detailed historical context, scholarly references, and high-resolution photography. TalerUniverse aims to serve both as a private collection showcase and a growing reference resource for collectors, researchers, and students of early-modern European coinage.
WTG!
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
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CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
1. you suck!
2. your photographic skills make you suck even more!
3. The Queen Anne medal is stunning*
*I was reading something just the other day about Queen Anne. It seems that the court painters were, umm, kind to her as she was in fact rather a large woman who took the greatest pains to remain as sedentary as she could at all times (other than those in which a meal was at hand). She also hated fresh air and the outdoors.
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<< <i>
Wonderful pickups! You sure got the reverse on that Thaler to pop. Very nice!
>>
It's nicely worn, has a nice original "crusty" toning to it even. It's amazing to me that a coin like this, such an old a silver dollar sized coin, is so available in lovely condition at such a reasonable price compared to its US counterpart from the 1790s to the early 1800s.
<< <i>you suck! >>
Thanks!
Radiant Collection: Numismatics and Exonumia of the Atomic Age.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/3232
World Collection
British Collection
German States Collection
<< <i> One thing that I find curious about the execution of the Anne medal is that little tiny cloud put in there. Why? It doesn't really add anything >>
Without the cloud I'd see a blank field above the devices.
With it there, I see heaven.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
However, the cloud is not mentioned. I would suspect, though, that a cloud blocks out the light of heaven.
DPOTD
--Severian the Lame
I love the Queen Anne medal.