CNG 102, Lot: 1562. Estimate $1500. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

STUART. temp. James II. 1685-1688. AR Medal (59mm, 83.75 g, 12h). Commemorating the Open Letter of Gaspar Fagel to the British People in Support of Religious Toleration under William of Orange. Of Dutch manufacture. [By J. Smeltzing(?)]. Dated 1688 (in Roman numerals). LIBERTAS CONSCIENTIÆ HOC MONILI ORNATA . (Freedom of conscience with this collar adorned), religious objects surmounted by cap inscribed LIBERTAS set on ornate base inscribed BRITANNIA; above, hand of God holding proclamation inscribed C. FAGELII/EPISTOLA/EFFLAGITATA/A/I. STEWARDO/1687 (the letter of Caspar Fagel demanded by James Steward) / RES IMMODERATA CUPIDO EST (An unbridled thing is greed), hound, wearing rosary and holding book inscribed M(agnum). I(uramentum)., standing slightly left on ground with raised right paw placed on book inscribed S(alus) • R(eligionis) • P(rotestantis) • set on ornate altar decorated with seals inscribed T(est) and P(enal) [Laws], and entwined serpent; left paw on book inscribed L(ibertas).C(onscientiae).. Van Loon III 361; MI 620/35; Eimer –. EF, toned. Rare.

A Dutch statesman, writer, and sometime diplomat, Gaspar Fagel authored a series of letters for and on behalf of William III, Prince of Orange, during that ruler’s campaign to take the English throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The most famous of these letters, and the one commemorated by this medal, was a 1687 open letter to the British people (and a possible covert bid by the Prince of Orange to claim the throne), in response to the religious policy of James II and his trampling of English liberties.

The obverse represents a Britain of religious toleration with the Anglican miter, Roman Catholic chalice, wafer, and rosary, and the Non conformist dove surrounding the free Bible in the center. The inscribed scroll refers to the engagement of the Scottish lawyer James Steward by James II to write letters to the Pensionary Fagel with a view to induce William and Mary to approve the abolition of the Test and Penal Laws. The hound on the reverse, a Dutch emblem of greed or lust, symbolizes James II devouring his coronation oath, trampling on the liberty of conscience, and removing the Test and Penal Laws, which sealed the safety of the state.