CNG 91, Lot: 1593. Estimate $200.
Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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STUART. temp. James I. 1603-1625. CU Jeton (31mm, 6.52 g, 10h). Alliance of England, France, and the United Provinces. Struck by the Province of Utrecht. Dated 1609. · IVNCTA · CORDA · FIDELIVM · (
the hearts of the faithful united...), three conjoined hearts; above, name of God in Hebrew within rayed clouds; crowned coat-of-arms below / · CONTRA · VIM · TIRANNORVM · 16 (shield) 09 (
...against the violence of tyrrany), crowned lis of France, rose of England, and bound arrows of the United Provinces. MI 199/26; cf. Eimer 88; van Loon II, p. 50. Near EF, brown patina.
Yet another commemoration of an alliance between France, England, and the United Provinces against Spain, this time purpose of emancipating the Provinces from the tyranny of the Spanish king was the main cause.
The Kisch Collection of Medals
Classical Numismatic Group is proud to offer a selection of interesting medals sold on behalf of the American Numismatic Society. These medals, from the Kisch Collection, cover a wide range of topics sure to appeal to a broad scope of collecting interests. In addition to the offerings in this sale, a further number of lots will also be presented in the concurrent electronic auction, sale 289.
A Note from the American Numismatic Society Regarding the Kisch Collection
Of all the many interesting medallic purchases in 2007 (accessioned under 2008), the chief one was that of a major and indeed relatively famous old-time European collection, one formed by the prominent legal scholar Dr. Guido Kisch (1889-1985). Dr. Alexander Kisch, his son and heir, offered on favorable terms the entire surviving collection of his late father. A numismatist, jurist, and Holocaust survivor, Guido Kisch had been trained as a lawyer and an academic. Before the rise of the Nazis, he was prominent as a professor of jurisprudence and legal history at the universities of Königsberg, Prague, and Halle. Escaping the Axis powers, he continued his academic career in New York during and after the Second World War before returning to Europe. He held an honorary professorship at Basel, and published extensively in the field of humanism (including numismatics) as well as in his professional capacity. (His collected papers are today housed in the archives of the Yeshiva University Museum.)
Due to a long-standing interest in numismatics, over a period of more than half a century Dr. Kisch formed a superb personal collection of medals, plaquettes, and tokens focusing on law and the legal professions. Many aspects of his collection were actually discussed and illustrated in his monograph Recht und Gerechtigkeit in der Medallienkunst (Heidelberg, 1955). Through its acquisition, the Society has been able to add many prized new specimens to the cabinet. Altogether (including duplicate items that can be disposed of in the future for financial advantage), there were well over 1000 objects. (Stolyarik 2007)
An important aspect of the Kisch collection is its fine contribution of a number of pieces to the Society’s cabinet of medals dating from the Renaissance. The earliest is a cast bronze example of the medal commemorating the Roman emperor Constantine I “The Great” (AD 307-37), known from the collection of the Duc de Berry and originally dating to ca. 1400. Of Italian origin are works in the Kisch collection by Cavino, “Francia” and Lysippus” (attr.). The anonymous Netherlandish Cambyses medal and the Swiss Frisius medal by Stampfer are wonderful examples of works from other areas. The collection is also rich in pieces bearing representations of famous lawyers, scholars and legal politicians continuing into fine medallic works of the 19th and 20th centuries, including spectacular medals by Leopold Wiener, the Belgian sculptor and engraver of the mid-19th century.
