K-435 AVENTINUS (Johann Turmair), 1929, Struck Bronze, 60mm, edge-punch “BAYER._HAUPTMÜNZAMT” (Munich Mint). UNC/Gussfrisch. This medal is also struck in 60mm silver, and cast in 118mm bronze.

This medal was commissioned by the Bavarian Numismatic Society in 1929 to commemorate the 395th year of Turmair’s death. Aventinus wrote Annales Boiorum (1517-1521) the history of Bavaria and is called the greatest writer of humanism.

Obverse: Half-length of Aventinus with hands on book. “K.G.” in exergue.

Reverse: The inscription, in Latin, praises Aventinus as a learned, faithful, and dutiful man endowed with a love for his Fatherland and outward admiration for Bavaria and Germany. He is admired as a student of the ancient and as a numistmatist. His year of death is given as “MDLXXXIIII” (1584) while the actual year was 1534. Goetz corrected the date in the later Opus 492 commemorating the 400th year of his death.

High Resolution Example

Very nice medal.

That is truly beautiful. Full frontal portraits are not easy to do well on coins and medals (that's why profiles are much more commonly used).

Is it rare? I think I'd remember such a striking design if I had seen it before.

The 60mm struck bronze pieces such as this example are far more common than the other two formats and metals, however, it can still be a difficult piece to obtain. I haven't a clue as to the number that were struck but most I've seen aren't comparable to the condition of this example.