Sale: Nomos 5, Lot: 79. Estimate CHF2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 24 October 2011.  Sold For CHF1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Germany, Augsburg. Medal (Silver, 46mm, 41.40 g 12), on the defeat of the Turks before Vienna, by C.J. Leherr (1647-1707), 1683 (but given in a chronogram on the reverse). CONCORDIA HEROVM VICTORIAE STABILIMENTVM At the center, the Hydra; to left, Hercules attacking right with his club; to right, Iolaos moving left, using a torch to burn the Hydra’s decapitated heads; below, in tiny letters, CIL. Rev. Inscription of fourteen lines; below, Augsburg Stadtpyr. Forster 57. Hirsch 32. Julius 178. Extremely fine.

Ex Peus 385, 2 November 2005, 3698.

Throughout Europe medals were produced to celebrate the defeat of the Turks before Vienna - this comes from the prolific mint of Augsburg. The engraver responsible for the dies, C. J. Leherr, worked in Augsburg from 1683 until his death in 1707; while he was very well-regarded during the later 17th century, he was non-the-less executed in that year for counterfeiting!