A Napoleonic Era Commemorative Box Medal with Fourteen Hand-Colored Engravings BONAPARTE, Napoleon. [Box Medal] Medaille ter Herinnering van den Krygsroem der Bondgenooten. toen deze in het jaar 1815 hunne zegepralende Banieren ten tweedemale opden bodem can Vrankryk plantten. Nürnberg: J.T. Stettner, 1815. Full Description:

BONAPARTE, Napoleon. BONAPARTE, Napoleon.

[Box Medal] Medaille ter Herinnering van den Krygsroem der Bondgenooten. toen deze in het jaar 1815 hunne zegepralende Banieren ten tweedemale opden bodem can Vrankryk plantten.

Nürnberg: J.T. Stettner, 1815.

Medaille ter Herinnering van den Krygsroem der Bondgenooten. toen deze in het jaar 1815 hunne zegepralende Banieren ten tweedemale opden bodem can Vrankryk plantten. [Nürnberg: J.T. Stettner, 1815.

[Medal commemorating the martial glory of the Allies when, in the year 1815, they planted their victorious banners on French soil for the second time.]

A silver-plated box medal (2 inches; 50 mm diameter). The front of the medal engraved by Johann Thomas Stettner (1786-1840), the German sculptor and medalist active in Nuremberg, with a triumphal arch and the back of the medal with a goddess symbolizing peace. The box medal case houses fourteen circular roundels, with hand-colored engraving of various Napoleonic era scenes. The fourteen circles are attached to each other and the case in a pull-out manner with linen on the versos. Small etched numbers at the top of each roundels, two text roundels pasted inside each side of the medal. Each roundel measures (1 3/4 inches; 45 mm diameter).

Medal is housed in a small contemporary light green paper over wood case (3 5/8 x 2 5/8 inches; 92 x 65 mm). Front and back of case with hand-colored engravings laid down to covers. Case is rebacked with yellow paper. Affixed inside the case facing the medal is a light green wrappered booklet with explanations in Dutch for each roundel engraving. Housed in a custom paper slipcase. Additionally with a separate explanatory leaf, listing each of the fourteen engravings. Overall a very good, charming piece.

The Congress of Vienna and the Battles of Napoleon in minature by" Stettner, Johann Thomas. " Screw taler of the medalist Johann Thomas Stettner (1785-1872),

What came to be known as screw medallions have their origins the sixteenth century, in the Germanic states of Europe. Initially, they seem to have been large silver coins, known as thalers (or talers), which were first minted in the early 1500s. These large coins were sometimes hollowed out in order to hide something small and precious inside. But by the end of the sixteenth century, a Schraubthaler (box thaler) was rather more like a locket. A large coin was cut in half, each half was hollowed out, then the edges were milled with corresponding grooves so that they could be screwed together to make what looked like a complete, solid coin... As the seventeenth century came to a close, the contents of Schraubthalers began to expand. No longer did these small box thalers hide a single enamel painting. Instead, these coins or medallions were made to conceal a set of miniature inserts printed in fine detail on a sturdy high-quality paper stock. Quite a number of the images were hand-painted as well. In some cases, the diminutive prints were simply a set of loose images in circular shape which could be enclosed in the coin or medallion when it was screwed closed. But there were others which held sets of tiny prints which were linked together by short lengths of ribbon in order to ensure that a series of images was viewed in the correct order. Many of these miniscule print series had religious themes or commemorated an important event." (Screw Medallions for Ladies by Kathryn Kane).

HBS 69703.

$3,500.

Price: $3,500.00

Item #69703