constanius

It has a Sasanian king, and a sacred fire altar and attendants reverse, not my area, but this link is a start http://en.numista.com/numisdoc/sasanian-coins-186.html I have never seen a square one, so I am not sure if it is a genuine coin. Another great link for Sasanian silver coins http://www.beastcoins.com/Sasanian/Sasanian.htm

It has a Sasanian king, and a sacred fire altar and attendants reverse, not my area, but this link is a start http://en.numista.com/numisdoc/sasanian-coins-186.html I have never seen a square one, so I am not sure if it is a genuine coin. Another great link for Sasanian silver coins http://www.beastcoins.com/Sasanian/Sasanian.htm This is one I have owned for many years, in poor condition. Sassanian Silver coin of Khosrau II (Xurso II). Year 6. head of king. Rev. Fire Altar. mint jjo circa 600 AD.

First one here looks to be this http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/baldwins/catalogue-id-srbal10026/lot-9986bd7a-6403-4067-a5f4-a5090119e408 Art Medals, India, Silver Medal of Good Fortune, the Goddess Lakshmi standing on lotus flower, dropping coins into the water, swan to left and elephant right, rev decorative motifs, SHH below, 51mm, 50.49g From your picture it is not possible to be sure, but you can check weight and having the medal in hand should be easy for you to decide. If not it is something very similar.

Second is Burma 5-PYAS (KM33) Chinthe. This scalloped coin was issued from CS1314 to CS1328 (1952-1966). Chinthes -- mythological half-lion half-dragon creatures -- are all over Burma (now Myanmar), especially as the undefeatable guardians of Buddhist temples. See one here http://www.coinzoo.net/asia-world-coin-collection/item/burma-5-pyas-km33

William Wellesley, the Master of the Mint, was commanded to manufacture the Waterloo Medal and planned to strike approximately 40,000 medals in bronze to supply the demand. Work commenced almost immediately on rolling the copper, cutting the blanks and preparing the dies. The task for engraving the medal dies fell upon Thomas Wyon, Jr. After trial strikes of different sizes but similar designs in Bronzes, the final choice was made, at least one of the final design was made in bronze, so there could well have been a few struck in bronze before George Prince Regent decided to have all the medals struck in silver. If yours is brass, not unearthed bronze, perhaps they struck a few in brass to test the dies or for alignment, that does seem improbable as brass is harder to strike than copper which is to be later bronzed, if you think it could bronze well it might not actually be a trial piece but just one of the possible ones struck prior to George's change of mind. The only other options, to my mind at least(if it is brass), is it is a copy or intended as a fake. EDIT https://www.spink.com/research-articles/the-waterloo-medal-nearly-a-bronze-medal.aspx

Magic

Really like these 2.

Our Lady of Guadalupe & the Old Basilica of O.L.o.G. are shown on the medal. There are many medals of her, have no more info. http://www.britannica.com/topic/Our-Lady-of-Guadalupe-patron-saint-of-Mexico

I have a soft spot for bi-metallics, nice. When searching it is useful to use bi-metalic & bi-metallic spellings, as both are in common usage.

Splendid idea.

Made my day to see a post from you Art

7 years after this post I am happy to write that the medal is back in the Snipper family. I managed to find a granddaughter of Donald R. Snipper, who just so happens to have a very young baby boy named Donald in memory of her grandfather.

I agree yours appears to be unique. The general description for #182(alas no image), unsigned, statue left, LUD, Roman numerals for date, and size all fit and it is the only one in Henin that matches all that. There appear to be numerous examples that fit that description so I suspect that these were struck for many years. Mitchiner might have a match, I have no access to that though I wish I had, I think Ian has a copy, hopefully he will see your post Bob.

I made a composite image of all the types in Hennin. #180 is signed IC Reich, #181 is signed Reich, #182 though unsigned is a Nuremberg issue. Hennin only shows an image of 181(the last one in my illustration) but uses it for 182 as well, but 181 uses LVD and 182 uses LUD, so different obverses, also the statue faces right on 181 and left on 182. 182 is a lot cruder. Doing a Google image search for OPTIMO PRINCIPI JETON, 182 is the most common, though there seems to be more than one variety. He also,though he includes 181 and 182 with the others in 1870, he doubts that date. None of the many varieties of 182 seem to have "comes betwixt ET & NAV" spacing though. "181 The reverse of this variety, bearing the date 1744 had probably served for another prince, and has been erroneously used for this token. One might also think that certain coin was minted during the reign of Louis XVI, prior to the time of the revolution. It would be impossible to have exact information on these German chips, and the uncertainty of the exact date of it and the next, I thought it best to publish them by classifying them. then, with the first pieces of the same nature which occur in chronological order. Reich is the name of the manufacturer of this piece [24mm] 182 optimo principi (To the best of princes). equestrian statue on its pedestal, left. Highlighted: mdccxliiii. [24mm]" So yours is probably just a variant of Hennin#182, probably also by Reich and 24mm is the correct size.

Yes, well stated extant4cell. I wish more people would, if not embrace, just accept history and stop trying to air-brush it. Judging history and the people involved by today's standards(whatever that means) is wrong and often means the people doing the judging now do not really understand the context of those past times. The world did not come into existence with preordained countries with fixed borders, universal mores or religions, or with established laws & forms of government. It was, and still is, a work in progress. A Russian born into the imperial family could no more chose his own parents than could a peasant. Each would be shaped by their birth & circumstances and neither should be blamed for that. If one became Tsar and believed it was his divine given right & duty to rule his nation and the other sought personal & national freedom by trying to destroy the imperial system who are we to judge them? Because of my ranting I almost forgot.........I do like the new coins.

The medal itself was struck in 1880 for the 1730-1880 Sesquicentennial of the Founding of Baltimore. The counterstamped lettering must therefore have been after 1880 and, seeing as he was 57 in 1900, I opted for circa 1890's as a likely date for that. Showing his name the right way up meant that the design is the wrong way up, which explains the upside down "30" and what appears to be a torch is the Baltimore War Memorial. Enjoy your trip/visit TDP

I purchased this at a Buffalo, NY. coin show many years ago, along with others tokens from a dollar box of items. Never looked at it again till today whilst doing some organizing. What a pleasant surprise. It is the counterstamped T B HOMAR which is of interest. Being such an unusual name I have been able to identify the man, Thomas B. Homar. The medal was struck in 1880. His spouse was Fannie L. Homar. He is listed on the original document as a carpenter. During the Civil War he was in the Confederate 12th Cavalry Regiment [also called 10th Regiment] it was organized at Conrad’s Store, Virginia, in June, 1862, with companies from the 7th Regiment Virginia Cavalry. The unit served in W.E. Jones’, Rosser’s, and J. Dearing’s Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. It fought in Northern Virginia, in the Maryland Campaign, at Brandy Station, then was involved in various conflicts in the western part of Virginia. The regiment continued the fight at Bristoe and Mine Run, in the battles around The Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and in Early’s operations in the Shenandoah Valley. During mid-April, 1865, it disbanded. He is also listed in the Muster Roll of Twelfth Virginia Cavalry(Laurel Brigade), Army of Northern Virginia with Company A.

What he said.

Good deal! Gorham Sterling is a great name for a silver company.

The medal itself was quite poorly made, the portrait hopefully does not do the Dowager Empress' looks justice but because the portrait was done soon after she was widowed she might deliberately have made herself look dour, I do not mean to rule out that she was devastated by her husband's death. It would not have been politically correct to appear beautiful and happy, as if she was glad he had died, especially as she had been the Empress but now her step-son had become Emperor maybe she felt her station in life was tenuous. Happily for her the new Emperor liked and trusted his step-mother and she enjoyed many happy years after this portrait was done.

The 1841 census only lists occupants, ages, occupations & street names but not house numbers. But by cross referencing directory lists of publicans with the names and addresses of the inns on Suffolk st. & the census of Suffolk st. I have established that William Kettle(son of Thomas & Mary Kettle & brother to Thomas Francis) & his wife and young children occupied 97 Suffolk st. Mary Kettle(owner) & Thomas Francis Kettle(her son & future owner) occupied 98 Suffolk st. 99 Suffolk st. is listed as Unoccupied, so was used only for the business. This explains why, when the business was sold to Hobson c. 1860 his company only occupied 99 Suffolk st., the Kettles still lived at 97 & 98.

When I saw this exquisite item on Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts site I knew the inspiration for the portrait on my medal. Image used with the kind permission of Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts. All Rights Reserved. "This high quality miniature portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga (1630-1686), third wife (now already a widow) of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III was made by one of the Dutch artists working in 17th century at Vienna Court" size without frame, 4,9x3,9cm/1,9x1,5in oil on copper oval. Using direct comparision, it is clear the medallist tried to show the wispy nature of her hair, particularly to the far side of her face, which helps to give the portrait the illusion of greater depth. Image used with the kind permission of Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts. All Rights Reserved.

The only thing I know for sure is that the censuses show many family members at the same address, or adjacent addresses, and some other relatives & the odd female servant(F.S.) They had large families and they do appear to have lived and worked at the same premises or at least premises side by side. Considering all the different types of items they made it seems a shame that the tokens seem to be the only things that survive that can be attributed to them. On the plus side, without the tokens they would seem almost not to have existed. I would dearly love to find anything, besides the tokens, with the Kettle name on it.

Yes it is

There can be no doubt that the reverse is by Kettle. James Conder did not list this and all the other authors are much later. Why the attribution to Kempson is very strange, though there has been some confusion over K & S, whether it stands for Kempson & Son or Kettle & Son(s). Just because the obverse is dated 1798 does not necessarily mean that was when in was struck, it could in fact have been struck later. There are 2 scenarios that I can think of, 1) The establishment at Portsmouth of the first School of Naval Architecture. This school was opened at the commencement of 1811, and was conceived in the grandest spirit, at least so far as the building was concerned, for over 30,000 GBPs. are said to have been expended on its erection. The school thus founded remained in operation for more than twenty years, but only trained about forty students. It was intended exclusively for the education of a higher class of apprentices, who were guaranteed appointments to important offices in the Royal Dockyards on the satisfactory completion of their course: and it was an experiment in a direction which has always found favour with many persons who consider it preferable to provide candidates for the higher professional offices from the better-placed and more liberally-educated classes. Could this be a reward of merit for the Academy? 2) My choice is this........ In Birmingham, is the very first statue of Horatio Nelson in Britain. It was proposed 1805 and made 1807-1809 by public subscription of £2,500 by the people of Birmingham. The statue was unveiled on 25 October 1809, that being the day decreed as the official golden jubilee of George III. Nelson had visited Birmingham in 1802 to great rejoicing over his victory at the Battle of the Nile. Nelson, bare headed, stands in uniform, with his one arm resting on an anchor with the prow of a miniature ship: HMS Victory. Upon the ship is the Flag Staff Truck (part of the mast) of the French ship Orient (1791), flagship of the French fleet, sunk at the Battle of the Nile. Here is a Birmingham Work House token shilling, which could have been issued to celebrate the King's Jubilee and the unveiling of the "Nile Victory" statue. It is possible that Kettle was the engraver, the inscription compares favourably with his from that period. So the tokens that BHM dates for the King's demise, could have been as, Fauver states, for the Jubilee. Compare the lettering on these two, so unless there is documented proof that it is by Kempson I am sticking with Kettle. Here is an account from 1809, "Birmingham.—The morning was ushered in with the ringing of bells, and the shops were mostly shut throughout the town. A very general attendance took place at the different churches and chapels, and other places of worship, at the .doors of which the sum of ,£310. 3s. Id. was collected for the benefit of the podr; in addition to which, the Right Hon. Lord Dudley and Ward, with his usual liberality, presented £'25. and Heneage Legge, Esq. ,£10. After service the 4th Dragoon Guards fired three volleys in honour of the day, as did also the Handsworth Volunteer Cavalry, drawn up in the Market Place.—At three o'clock commenced the Druids' Procession, consisting of nearly 1400 members, from Lodges 17, 31, and 32, of the town, and No. 40, from Walsall, which was attended by a vast concourse of people. After proceeding round the Statue of Nelson, they attended divine service at St. Philip's Church, where an excellent and appropriate sermon was delivered by Dr. L. Booker, from the following text, 1 Pet. 2 c. 9th and 17th v. The festival was commemorated in the evening, by different dinner parties at most of the inns and public places in the town. Edward Cairns, Esq. the Low Bailiff, gave a sumptuous entertainment at the Shakspeare Tavern; amongst whom were the Members for the County, the Magistrates, Clergy, &c. &c. It is unnecessary to add that the evening was spent in the greatest loyalty and good humour.— A circumstance which added not a little to the pleasure of the day, and the beauty of the scene, was the opening to public view the celebrated Bronze Statue of the ever to be lamented hero, Viscount Nelson. Every thing was ready for submitting this statue to public inspection on the 21st, the anniversary of the glorious victory of Trafalgar, but the Committee properly conceived that it would be better to defer the eeremony till the anniversary of his Majesty's accession, in order to heighten the joy of the public, on an event so interesting to the nation. At twelve o'clock at night, on the 24th, the signal for opening the statue was given, to usher in the morning of our good King's fiftieth anniversary, and such a scene of popular eagerness was hardly ever witnessed before. Peace officers were stationed to protect the workmen, until the awnings of the scaffold immediately connected with the monument were removed, but this business was hardly a moment over, when the populace broke down every impediment, and not fewer than 5000 people present immediately gave three cheers for Nelson, and joining a fine band of music who attended on the occasion, sung "God save the King." The loyal enthusiasm of the people was not surpassed in any part of the Empire. The Local Militia, in the course of the day, formed round the statue, and fired a feu de joie. The whole of the day was marked by patriotic festivity.—The following illustration of the statue was given to the public, and it is admitted that the artist, Mr. Westmacott, has fully supported his high reputation by this work, and that it is in all respects worthy of the dignified and impressive subject. "In this work, intended to perpetuate the greatest example of Naval Genius, simplicity has been the chief object in the arrangement. The Hero is represented in a reclined and dignified attitude, his left arm reposed upon an anchor: he appears in the costume of his country, invested with the insignia of those honours by which his Sovereign and distant Princes distinguished him. To the right of the statue is introduced the grand symbol of the Naval profession; Victory, the constant leader of her favourite Hero, embellishes the prow. To the left is disposed a sail, which passing behind the statue, gives breadth to that view of the composition.—This group is surmounted upon a pedestal of statuary marble. A circular form has been selected, as best adapted to the situation. "To personify that affectionate regard which caused the present patriotic tribute to be raised, the Town of Birmingham, murally crowned, in a dejected attitude, is represented mourning her loss; she is accompanied by groups of Genii, or children, in allusion to the rising race, who offer her consolation by bringing her the trident and rudder.—To the front of the pedestal is the following inscription — "THIS STATUE, IN HONOR OF ADMIRAL LORD NELSON, WAS ERECTED BY THE INHABITANTS OF BIRMINGHAM, A. D. 1809."