Dassier’s “Histoire de la République Romaine” Series
An Offering of All Sixty Types

364, Lot: 369. Estimate $100. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SWITZERLAND. Romulus / Founding of Rome. AR Medal (32mm, 10.08 g, 12h). By Jean Dassier & sons, 1740-1750. Head of Romulus left / The Founding of Rome: Romulus plowing the sacred pomerium as two soldiers watch; cityscape in background; dated year 1 (753 BC) in exergue. Eisler 1a; Catenacci pp. 4-5. EF, lightly toned, hairlines.

From the RBW Collection, purchased from Compagnie Général de Bourse, August 1992.

The Dassier family’s didactic “Histoire de la République Romaine” series is comprised of 60 medal types, struck in both silver and bronze, whose subjects are the principal figures and historical events of the Roman Republic. Although our historical sources for the dating of the series are not entirely in agreement, it appears to have been begun in 1740 and, after some delays, completed about 1750. The series was heavily promoted for the time, with the Dassiers publishing an explanatory booklet, Explication des médailles gravées par Jean Dassier & fils, représentant une suite de sujets tirés de l’histoire romaine, as well as translations in Italian, German, and English. The cost of subscription for a set in bronze was 45 livres, while a silver set cost 120 livres.

The impressive series would naturally have appealed to Rick, and the collector had a nearly full set in both silver and bronze. The current offering features all 60 types, with most in silver.