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constanius

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  1. Yes it was mine, sold at a 2016 Nov.Torex auction in Toronto, along with my small US and Canadian collection. I purchased it in 2007 from a dealer, Ross D.King, at a coin show in Toronto which was hosting the 2007 Torex auction. Glad it has found its way to a good home I guess you have seen this from p. 563 of the December, 1916 issue of The Numismatist. "Mr. A. Reimers exhibited a gold medal (size $20 piece, $28 gold value,) with bail, which was struck in San Francisco, November 26th, 1855, to commemorate the fall of Sebastopol. This medal was presented to Mrs. George Gordon by the joint committee. George Gordon was the promotor of South Park. Obverse, British lion, a monk, war material, Russian fiag being pulled down from pole; inscription, "Manifestation in Honor of the Success of the Allies in the Crimea. S. F., 26 Nov., '55." Reverse, French Eagle downing Russian Eagle, above which are the fasces and four fiags. Inscription same as obverse, only in French. This medal is thought to be unique, and is in excellent state of preservation"
  2. That is great, would be a shame to lose your great thread because of Photobucket How not to run a business, except into the ground perhaps. After the experience with Photobucket I do not feel like trusting third party sites.
  3. If you right click on the Photobucket image and select open image in new tab you can then download the image. I did that on your image(then resized and compressed it and hosted on this site and is the thumbnail below. Takes time but as you do it it gets quicker. Hope you do not mind me using your image and you have to click on the thumbnail image. I also hosted it on my site, which is the first image below as attached files are always at the end, shame you cannot imbed them in the text. Next medal/taler up for auction starting 8pm on Sunday, 1/22/2017 at eBay Fribourg 1934 Swiss Shooting Thaler/Taler 5 Fr. Federal Schützenfest R411a/M246a Metal: Silver Size: 31mm Weight: 15.07g Engraver: Oscar Cattani, Fribourg / Huguenin, Le Locle / Federal Mint, Bern Rarity: H Mintage: 32,789 pieces The compressed image is only 26.9KB but still looks okay on a computer.
  4. I had my images on Photobucket and I will begin using my own site for hosting. It will take me sometime to replace all or at least most images in my previous posts but I intend to do so, wish me luck!
  5. This is another piece of Bagnall's work signed under the horse's rear legs. IN BANNISTER RIDE/ING MASTER RETURNS/THANKSTO THE PUB/LIC IN GENERAL. Bannister's first name was James, the engraver has mistakenly used the abbreviation for John, possibly because there was a famous actor called John Bannister living at the same time. Though it is not in great condition, it was a must buy as it is most unlikely that I will see another because of its extreme rarity and it has the Bagnall connection and it completes the know Bannister set for my collection.
  6. This is signed by my old friend Bagnall and completes the set of 2 Bannister Circus tickets/passes known.
  7. I have rotated your image and can make out HENRICVS REX and you also can make out the crown, curls, hand and sceptre it looks like it was a Henry obverse overstruck with the reverse or vise versa. Could also have been issued in John's reign.
  8. BHM# 378 British Museum's Curator's comments Bindman According to Bell the dies for this medal were engraved by Thomas and/or Peter Wyon in Birmingham. He adds that it was probably struck by Kempson, a Birmingham token manufacturer. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=948973&partId=1 You are most welcome Bob, your friend Pat.
  9. A very minor correction, what I thought was DURN is BURN(for, I suspect, a rider in the circus, Burne) see 1816 poster clipping. He was still performing in 1824 at an Edinburgh equestrian theatre show
  10. The scant descriptions of this medal only mention the scenic elements from his art portrayed on the reverse, which not only miss the possible significance of the Dioscuri(Castor & Pollux), Cassiopeia & the Three Graces but fail to acknowledge them at all. Though one does suggest the 3 heavenly women represent the 3 primary colours. The Dioscuri(Greek) can be recognized by the skull-cap they wear, the pilos, which was explained in antiquity as the remnants of the egg. Whether the children are thus mortal or half-immortal is not consistent among accounts, nor is whether the twins hatched together from one egg. In some accounts, only Pollux was fathered by Zeus, while Leda and her husband Tyndareus conceived Castor. This explains why they were granted alternating immortality. One would live among the gods, whilst the other was among the dead and visa versa. They are also known as the Gemini or Castores in Latin. Skilled in taming wild horses and often depicted standing by them holding the reins. Cassiopeia is a W shaped constellation it rotates around the celestial pole and is up-side down half the time. The five brightest stars of Cassiopeia - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon Cassiopeiae - form the characteristic W-shape all five are prominent naked eye stars. They are oriented as a W when below Polaris during northern spring and summer nights. In northern winter they are above Polaris and the W appears inverted. The Three Graces in Greek mythology, are referred to as the Charites, they were a trio of minor goddesses named Aglaea, Thalia and Euphrosyne. These three sisters were the daughters of Zeus and the Oceanid Eurynome. The role of the Graces in Greek mythology was to spread goodwill, pleasure and mirth, and were therefore welcome guests at festivities, especially at the banquets of the gods. Bearing in mind that this is a memorial medal issued after death it appears to me that the Dioscuri's inclusion is meant to represent the circle of life, days, seasons, years & death, the sun still rises, cassiopeia still rotates in the heavens and life on Earth goes on and though Turner the man is dead, his art has placed Turner among the immortals and the 3 Graces await to welcome him to the banquet of the Gods.
  11. Never realy paid too much attention to the subject of Labyrinths but I just learnt the difference between them and Mazes. A labyrinth has but one entrance and its path leads one invariably to the center, whereas a maze can have more than one entrance and is a puzzle which has to be solved to reach the center and then sets the problem of extricating oneself. So it is a maze depicted on the jeton and in the illustration. Theseus would have had no need for thread to exit a Labyrinth, so was the Minotaur's lair in fact a maze? It would seem so! Amazing Unless(all my own work)
  12. Thanks for the most interesting post Frank, here is a cached version of the missing article. In a previous edition of Caerdroia (“The Labyrinth on Coins & Tokens” Caerdroia 36, pp.4-9) I described several coins and tokens decorated with labyrinths contained within the Labyrinthos Archive, including a jeton (a ‘coin’ created for political or promotional purposes) with a depiction of Theseus and the Labyrinth on its reverse, issued in Burgundy, France, in 1678. Recently added to the Labyrinthos collection is another similar jeton, minted in the Spanish Netherlands in the late 16th century. 29 mm in diameter, the jeton was minted on a thin, soft copper flan, and as a consequence has some damage and wear on the high points of the designs on either side. This is a common feature of jetons of this type, but the designs and inscriptions can be clearly determined. The obverse depicts the head of King Philip II of Spain, accompanied by the inscription DOMINUS.MIHI.ADIVTOR - The Lord is my helper - his personal motto. The reverse bears the inscription FATA.VIAM.INVENIENT - fate will find a way - with the date 1591 and a small device in the shape of a hand, the mint mark of Antwerp. This surrounds a labyrinth of distinctive design, with a depiction of a small tree at its centre. This jeton, issued in 1591, was surely an item of political propaganda, a symbol of support for Philip II’s campaign to retain ownership of the Spanish Netherlands, modern-day Belgium and the southern half of the Netherlands itself. Antwerp, now the capital of the Belgian province of Flanders, was at the time on the northern frontier of the Spanish Netherlands and an important port and centre of Spanish trade in spices, textiles and other commodities from the Far East and the Americas. In 1579 the Union of Utrecht declared the provinces in the north of the Netherlands an independent Protestant state, free from the control of Philip’s Catholic regime. Antwerp, almost destroyed by the Spanish in 1576 in earlier hostilities, was on the front line, becoming the capital of the so-called Dutch Revolt. It fell into Philip’s hands again in 1585 following a long siege and over half of its population, the Protestants, fled to the north. It was not until 1609 that a truce was finally brokered between the Spanish and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and hostilities did not cease entirely in the region until 1648. As with the labyrinth-inscribed jeton issued in Burgundy nearly a century later, these items were also popular in the Netherlands in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and issued by supporters on both sides of the conflict. Their subjects ranged from patriotic depictions of their leaders and celebration of military victories to political commentary and satire. With the complex political circumstances in Antwerp at the time, it is surely no wonder that the labyrinth was employed as a statement upon the situation. But the labyrinth on the reverse of this jeton is rather unusual. Although slightly worn, it is not difficult to determine the full design (depicted opposite). Superficially similar to a medieval design, albeit with only nine walls, eight circuits, it turns out to be a simple maze, of sorts, with several breaks in the walls and the outermost circuit in particular. This design was clearly copied directly from Claude Paradin’s Devises Héroïques, a book of personal symbols, technically known as impresas (see Kern, 2000, pp.199-205 for full details), first published in Lyon, France, in 1551, subsequently expanded in 1557 and reprinted many times, including Paris in 1571 and London in 1591. Likewise accompanied by the inscription Fata viam inuenient (a quote from Virgil’s Aeneid), the impresa is presented as the emblem of Boisdauphin de Laval, who became the Archbishop of Embrun, France, in 1553 until his death the following year. The accompanying text alongside the device in the book explains that the labyrinth should be viewed as symbolic of finding the true path through worldly life, by the grace of God and through adherence to the Ten Commandments. The only addition to the basic design in the book, seen on the jeton, is the inclusion of a small tree at the centre. Similar trees appear in the centre of labyrinths in other books of impresas from this time, but whether this addition has further symbolic meaning in this specific example, or is merely decorative embellishment is debatable. The tree, a symbol of eternal life or paradise, combined with the motto and the inherent symbolism of the labyrinth, could be seen as indicating that there is a way to be found, either to heaven or to hell, but God alone will help find the right path. The use of the fata viam invenient motto in connection with a labyrinth can be found in several other instances from this same time period: as a relief moulding on the ceiling of the palace at Dampierre-sur-Boutonne in France (from c.1550) and beneath the small inset depiction of a man standing at the centre of a small turf labyrinth on the English painting of Lord Russell from 1573. It was also subsequently used on a series of labyrinth decorated medals, issued by Queen Kristina of Sweden, c.1650 (see Caerdroia 36, p.4). Another connection, and possible source of inspiration for the use of the labyrinth on the 1591 jeton, can be found in another impresa, this time in Girolamo Ruscelli’s Le imprese illustri, published in Venice in 1566 and again in 1584. This depicts a simple labyrinth with the Minotaur (actually a Centaur) at the centre and is captioned In Silentio et Spe (in quietness and confidence) and was the emblem of Gonzalo Pérez, secretary and advisor to Philip II. Clearly these impresas featuring labyrinths and the connection between the symbol and the motto, were popular and well-known within the circles surrounding the Royal court of Spain (and elsewhere) during this period, so it should come as no surprise to find one appearing on a patriotic jeton issued by Philip’s supporters at this turbulent time, in a city at the epicentre of the conflict. Jeff Saward; Thundersley, England, December 2009
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