CNG 100, Lot: 1109. Estimate $2000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUSTRIA, Holy Roman Empire. temp. Rudolf II to Ferdinand III. 1576-1657. Cast AV Medal (52mm, 19.62 g, 12h). So-called “Judenmedaille” type. Praha (Prague) mint. Dated 1231 (in Roman numerals), but struck early 17th century. ЄLISABЄTA • FILIA • AnDR • RЄG • UnGAR • OBIT • mARB • An • m • CC • XXXI (triple pellets), crowned and veiled bust of St. Elizabeth of Hungary facing slightly left within tressure of seventeen arches; each arch ending in triple pellets; annulets in spandrels / + DISPЄRSIT • DЄDIT • PAUP : IUST : ЄIUS • MAnЄT • In • SЄCUL : SECULI, view of the Elizabethkirche in Marburg within tressure of seventeen arches; each arch ending in triple pellets; annulets in spandrels. Cf. Hoffmeister 4; cf. Bernhart 21; cf. Klein B 21; cf. Prince Alexander 3; cf. Nomos 5, lot 52 (all refs. for example in silver). VF, toned, fields chased, a number of marks, traces of prior mounting.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Abe Kosoff Collection (Bowers & Merena, 5 November 1985), lot 5018.

The large series of pseudo-medieval medals, long known as ‘Judenmedaille’ from their supposed manufacture by Jewish minters in Prague, were actually part of a very carefully thought out series designed to glorify the ancestors of the House of Hapsburg. They appear in different metals, primarily in silver with gold ones being particularly rare. This one bears a portrait of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) who had been the wife of Ludwig IV of Thuringia; on the reverse is the great church of St. Elizabeth in Marburg, which began to be built in 1235 when Elizabeth was canonized. It was consecrated in 1283 but the towers were only finished in 1340. It is one of the earliest Gothic churches in Germany and was a model both for the cathedral of Cologne and for St. Paul’s Church in Strasbourg.