Noble & Private Collections
Noble & Private Collections
Property of a Gentleman
Lot Closed
October 18, 01:34 PM GMT
Estimate
25,000 - 40,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
An Austrian gold commemorative medal, a restrike of the medal made on the occasion of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria’s visit to the Middle East, celebrating the official opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869, designed by Josef Tautenhayn (1837-1911), 20th century
with a high-relief profile of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, signed below J. Tautenhayn, within the legend
FRANCISCVS.IOSEPHVS.I.D.G.AVSTRIAE.IMPERATOR.ET.HVNGARIAE.REX.APOST, the reverse depicting the personification of Egyptia as a woman with a crescent in her head and holding a scroll, seated on the Sphinx with the pyramids on her right and a ship to her left, with legend below ADVENTVS AVGVSTI IN AEGYPTVM OB.APERIVNDAM FOSSAM SVEZIANAM MDCCCLXIX, the lower edge of the medal with three illegible hallmarks
Diameter: 71mm
Thickness: 5.5mm
Weight: 320gr.
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Kaiser Franz Josef I. Goldmedaille, eine Nachprägung der Gedenkmedaille zum Anlass der offiziellen Eröffnung des Suezkanals im Jahre 1869, Österreich, 20. Jh.
This medal was gifted by his grandfather on occasion of the birth of the present owner in 1951.
This medal commemorates Emperor Franz Joseph I's visit to Egypt to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. From 1906 to 1984 it was possible to have gold, silver or bronze medals made at the Vienna Central Mint from the original dies located there. In a printed and bound booklet all available types of medals were listed.
The exact number of medals reproduced is not commonly known. The quality of these later strikes is impeccable, and the Vienna Central Mint not only had the original dies, but also the appropriate high-quality minting equipment. The original strikes of gold and silver medals minted by the Vienna Central Mint between 1867 and 1875 were intended as court gifts, and due to the legal exemption from hallmarking, do not bear any hallmarks. The three now no longer identifiable hallmarks – which already before 1951 were filed away probably on purpose, but still are visible – are proof that the present medal indeed is a 20th century restrike.