ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The specific descriptions and images of the medals in this article were taken in large measure from the website: HISTORICAL AND COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS: Collection of Benjamin Weiss.  The other images were generously provided by  my colleagues, namely, Henry Scott Goodman, who so kindly provided the images and other information on the three anti-Black medals by Karl Goetz, and the Anonymous Collector who provided me the images of the anti-Semitic medals by Christian Wermuth.  Translations of the inscriptions on the medals by Sebastian Dadler were provided by Guenther Brockmann, to whom I am deeply indebted.

I also wish to thank  the  many people, too numerous to mention here, who have been kind enough to read this article and provide me helpful feedback.  I particularly thank my lovely wife, Joyce, who has read and re-read the various drafts of this treatise and has provided me not only with much needed encouragement but also has given me many extremely helpful suggestions and advice concerning the historical aspects of the period covered.

The biographical sketches cited for these medallists were gleaned largely from Forrer’s comprehensive  Biographical Dictionary of Medallists.  The descriptions and interpretations of the reverses of the medals that relate to English history were taken in large measure from Edward Hawkins’ classic two volume book,  Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the Death of George II and from Medallic History of England printed by Wilson and Co. in 1802.  Information related to these medals was also taken, in large part, from the recently published books devoted exclusively to the medals executed by the Dassier family: the very useful book by Dr. Peter Thompson (The Dassier Family and its Medals), and the excellent and comprehensive two volume set, written by William Eisler, describing the history and works of the Dassier family (The Dassiers of Geneva: 18th Century European Medallists).

REFERENCES

• Bernheimer F.: Georg Wilhelm Vestner und Andreas Vestner, Zwei Nurnberger Medailleure, Neue Schriftenreihe des Stadtarchivs Munchen, 1984.
• Brockmann, G.: Die Medaillen der Welfen: Band2, Linie Luneburg/Hannover.  Verlag Dr. G. Brockmann, Koln, 1987.
• BW: Historical and Commemorative Medals: Collection of Benjamin Weiss.  2004-2008.  www.historicalartmedals.com
• Eidlitz, Robert James : Medals and Medallions Relating to Architects. New York, l927.
• Eimer, C. : British Commemorative Medals and their values. B. A. Seaby Ltd., London, 1987.
• Eisler, W.: The Dassiers of Geneva: 18th Century European Medalists, Volume 1, Jean Dassier, Medal Engraver: Geneva, Paris and London, 1700-1733.  Association des amis du Cabinet des medailles du canton de Vaud, Palais de Rumine, CH-1005 Lausanne , et le Musee d’art et d’histoire, Geneve, 2002.
• Eisler, W.: The Dassiers of Geneva: 18th Century European Medalists, Volume 2, Dassier and Sons: An Artistic Enterprise in Geneva, Switzerland and Europe,  Association des amis du Cabinet des medailles du canton de Vaud, Palais de Rumine, CH-1005 Lausanne , et le Musee d’art et d’histoire, Geneve, 2005.
• Europese Penningen: 2500 Europese Medailles, A Catalogue of 2500 European Medals. This Dutch catalogue lists and pictures 2500 medals: 63 pages of text and 345 pages of plates.  This is one of the most extensive listings of historical medals available.  Published in Amstelveen, The Netherlands,1983.
• Farquhar, H.: Portraiture of our Stuart Monarchs on their Coins and Medals, B.N.J., 1908 (part i), pp. 145-262.
• Fearon, D.:  Spink’s Catalogue of British Commemorative Medals: 1558 to the present day with valuations.  Webb and Bower, Exeter, England 1984.
• Forrer, L.: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists- Vol. 1-8. Original Edition published in London (1902-1930). Reprinted by Spinks (1965) and by Franklin, New York (1970). Third reprint and revised Volume I  published by A. H. Baldwin and Sons  and A. G. van der Dussen (1980) printed by Cultura Press, Belgium.
• Friedenberg, Daniel M.: Jewish Medals from the Renaissance to the Fall of Napoleon. 1503-1815. The Jewish Museum of New York. Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, l970.
• Galster : Danske og Norske Medailler og Jetons ca. 1533- ca. 1788. Kopenhagen 1936.
• Goodman:  The Goodman Collection www.karlgoetz.com  by Henry Scott Goodman.
• Goppel, Dr. Plum and Holler : Munzen- und Medaillensammlung., l960.   
• Hildebrand, B.E.: Sveriges och Svenska Konnungahusets Minnespenningar, Praktmynt och Beloningsmedaljer. 2 Bande, Stockholm 1874-1875.
• Jones, M.: A Catalogue of the French Medals in the British Museum, Vol 2 1600-1672.  British Museum Publications Ltd. 1988.
• Jones, M.:  The Art of the Medal, British Museum Publications Ltd., London 1979.
• Kienast, G.W.: The Medals of Karl Goetz,  The Artus Company, Cleveland, Ohio. 1967.
• Kress: RENAISSANCE MEDALS from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art: Based on the Catalogue of Renaissance Medals in the Gustave Dreyfus Collection. By G.F. Hill, Revised and enlarged by Graham Pollard. Published by the Phaidon Press for the Samuel H. Kress  Foundation. London 1967.
• Mazerolle, Fernand : Les medailleurs francais du XV siecle au milieu du XVII  (3 Vol), Paris, 1902.
• Mazerolle, Fernand : Jean Varin, (2 Vol), Paris, 1932.
• Medal, The. (M. Jones, ed.), British Art Medal Trust in association with FIDEM.
• Medallic History of England. Illustrated by Forty Plates.  Printed, at the Oriental Press, by Wilson and Co. Wild Court, Lincoln’s Inn Fields: For E. Harding, No. 98, Pall-Mall; and J. Scott, St. Martin’s Court, Leicester-Fields. London, 1802.
• M.I.:  Hawkins, E., Franks, A.W., and Grueber H. A.: Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the Death of George II, Vol. I and II. Spink and Son, Ltd., Eng., l969.
• Molinari: Norris, A.S. and Weber, I.: Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College. l976.
• O’Brien:  Encyclopedia of World History, (Edited by  P.K. O’Brien, et al.) George Philip Limited, 2000.
• PAX:  Schulman, J.: Pax in Nummis, Amsterdam 1912.
• Pollard, J.G., Luciano, E. and Pollard, M.: Renaissance Medals, Volume One, Italy, The Collections of the National Gallery of Art, Systematic Catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Distributed by Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 2008.
• Pollard, J.G., Luciano, E. and Pollard, M.: Renaissance Medals, Volume Two, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and England, The Collections of the National Gallery of Art, Systematic Catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Distributed by Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 2008.
• Reinecke, K.: Jacques Wiener.  Ordenmuseum Abtei Kamp Exhibition Catalogue, 1989.
• Thompson, P. J. : The Dassier Family and its Medals, P & D Medallions, P.O. Box 269, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England 2000.
• T.N.:    Delaroche, P.,  Dupont H. and Lenormant C.: Tresor de Numismatique et de Glyptique: Medailles Francaises (5 vols.) Paris 1834-1836.
• Van Hoydonck, Emiel : Jacques Wiener (1815-1899)- Medailles Jetons, 1 ere Edition, l972.
• Van Loon, Gerard:  Histoire metallique des XVII provinces des Pays-Bas depuis l’abdication de Charles-Quint, jusqu’ B la paix de Bade en MDCCXVI.  La Haye: P. Gosse, J. Neaulme, P. De Hondt.  Five volumes. The Hague, 1732-1737.
• Weiss, Benjamin: Collection of Historical and Commemorative Medals, www.historicalartmedals.com  2004-2009.
• Wiecek, A.:  Sebastian Dadler, Medalier Gdanski. XVII Wieku, Danzig, l962.

BIOGRAPHY OF MEDALLISTS
Abeele, Pieter van: Pieter van Abeele (?- ca. 1677) was one of the best engravers of the Dutch school of the seventeenth century.  It is thought that he was also a painter.  He lived principally in Amsterdam where he was a pupil of Jerian Pool.  His works date from 1622-1677.  His medals, like those of his contemporary, the engraver O. Muller, are of repousse work and chased, the two sides being united by a rim.  Among his most interesting medals are those related to English history.

Bower, George: George Bower (Bowers) worked in London from 1650 to 1689.  He was appointed in 1664 Engraver to the Royal Mint and Embosser in Ordinary.  He died in 1690.

Dadler, Sebastian: Dadler is one of the foremost medallists of the seventeenth century.  He was born at Strasbourg in 1586, but resided at Augsburg (1619), and Dresden (1621-1630), and later at Nuremberg, Berlin and chiefly at Hamburg where he died in1657. (The Historical Museum at Dresden and the “Grune Gewolbe” have examples of his work and an important collection of his medals are housed in the Hamburg Museum.)  At Augsburg, he held the post of first Goldsmith to the Imperial and Electoral Saxon Court, and there attained celebrity as a Medallist and Chaser in gold and silver.  At Dresden he was appointed Medallist and Goldsmith to the Ducal Court of Saxony. While at Nuremberg Dadler is believed to have been employed by the Elector of Brandenburg.  Because of his international renown, Dadler also worked for the House of Orange, the Court of Sweden and for many other princely houses of Europe. Several examples of medals made to commemorate events in these countries are shown below.  In addition, Dadler engraved a large number of religious, marriage, baptismal, and death commemorative medals, some of which are also represented in this section. (Biographical information taken from Forrer).

DASSIER, Jean:  The Dassier family constituted a group of celebrated Swiss medalists from the late 17th to mid 18th centuries.  The father, Domaine Dassier (1641-1719), was Chief-engraver at the Mint of Geneva from 1677 to 1720.  His son, Jean Dassier (1676-1763), who succeeded his father as Chief-engraver on his father’s death in 1720, studied die-sinking under his father and later in Paris under Mauger and Roettiers.    One of Jean Dassier’s sons, Jacques Antoine (1715-1759), learned the art of die-sinking under the celebrated goldsmith Germain of Paris. He was engaged as Engraver at the Royal Mint, London from 1741-1757. Another son of Jean Dassier, Antoine (1718-1780), worked with his father for a number of years, issuing a series of medals bearing the signature DASSIER ET FILS.

Jean Dassier is considered one of the greatest of the eighteenth century medalists.  He was also the most prolific of the family,  issuing several series of medals, including a series of small medals (jettons) Les metamorphoses d’Ovide, a series of medals representing celebrated men and women in France during the 17th century (les hommes illustres du siecle de Louis XIV), a series of medals depicting the principal Protestant Reformers, The Genevan Theologians, medals illustrating the history of Geneva and, when in England, a series of famous English men (The British Worthies) and a series of English Sovereigns from William I to George II.  In conjunction with his son, he also issued a series of small medals illustrating Roman history.

Dupré, Guillaume: Guillaume Dupré (ca. 1576-1643) was the most brilliant exponent of the French medal in its High Renaissance stage, and the greatest French medallic portraitist. He was also a sculptor and gem engraver and was the first to apply the art of sculpture to medal-engraving. His medals were nearly all cast but so fine that they could be mistaken as having been struck.  Some consider his works to rise to the height of the Italian Masters of the Renaissance.

Goetz, Karl: Karl Goetz (1875-1950) was born in Augsburg, Germany in the state of Bavaria.  He attended school in several cities in Germany, including Augsburg, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Düsseldorf.  Later in his career he spent time in Utrecht, Paris and Munich.  Over his lifetime Goetz  created over 600 medals, most of which were cast.  Many of them were satirical in nature, several  of which relate to World War I, the most famous of which is the propaganda piece on the Sinking of the Lusitania.  He is also noted for his dramatic portrait medals.  His medals are displayed in museums around the world, including those in Germany, Austria, England, Norway and the United States.  Goetz was a member of several artistic and numismatic societies in Germany and Austria.
Karl Goetz exhibited strong emotions in his medals, some of which expressed his prejudicial feelings,  most notably in the anti-Black medals shown in this article.

Hamerani, Giovanni Alberto: Giovanni Hamerani (1649-1705) was one of a family of celebrated medallists and coin engravers who were employed for nearly two centuries at the Papal Zecca of Rome.  Giovanni Hamerani was born in Rome, the son of Alberto Hamerani.  Giovanni left behind two sons, Ermenegildo and Ottone and a daughter Beatrice, all three of whom distinguished themselves as noted medal engravers.  After his father’s death, Giovanni Hamerani was appointed Medallist to Pope Clement X and later also to Innocent XI, Alexander VIII, Innocent XII, and Clement XI. In 1684 Hamerani was elected to be a member of the Academy of St. Luca. Bolzenthal remarks that this artist, in common with his father, possessed a pure artistic taste, and in style, expression and strength of execution, was much superior to the engravers of his time. (Forrer).

Hamerani, Ottone: Ottone (Otto) Hamerani (1694-1768), the younger son of Giovanni Hamerani, was a medallist and coin engraver from Rome.  He held the office of Medallist to Popes Clement XII, Benedict XIV, and Clement XIII, and was Master of the Mint at Rome from 1734 until his death in 1768.  Although Ottone did not come up to his father as an artist, he was an especial favorite of the Old Pretender of England, James (III) Stuart, for whom he struck several medals.   

Hart, Laurent Joseph: Hart was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1810 and died in Brussels in 1860.  He was a pupil of Braemt, Veyrat and Jouvenel.  Before the revolution of 1830, he served as coin engraver to the Mints of Brussels and Utrecht.  His medals, which are numerous, are often of  particularly high relief and are generally of above average merit. (Forrer, Vol II, p. 433)

Molart, Michel: Michel Molart (1641-1713) was born in Dieppe, the son of a judge. He  was trained in Elfenbeinschnitzer then later settled in Paris where he did most of his work.  Originally he worked carving reliefs in ivory; later he began engraving medals at which time he became a member of the academy and was allowed to call himself “Medal Engraver of the King”, making a number of portrait medals of Louis XIV.  Along with Mauger, Molart  was one of the most prolific engravers of the period.  Their work was similar in style and they were often in competition with each other.

Muller, O. (Wouter): O. (or Wouter) Muller was a silversmith and medallist of Amsterdam, whose work dates between 1653 and 1688.  Bolzenthal calls him “der Meister Muller”, and gives him high praise for the excellence of the execution of his medals.  Like those of Peter van Abeele, his medals are embossed and chased and are in high relief.

Roettiers, James: James Roettiers (1663-1698) was the second son of John Roettiers.  He assisted his father at the English Mint in making dies and puncheons and in 1690, on the death of George Bower, was officially employed as an assistant engraver of the mint, together with his brother Norbert.  He was removed from his office at the mint in consequence of the theft of dies from the Tower of London.  He died in 1698 from the effects of a fall from his horse.

Vestner, Georg Wilhelm:  Georg Wilhelm Vestner  (1677-1740) was born at Schweinfurth and died at Nuremberg where he worked as a medallist from about 1705 until his death.  He was first apprenticed to a metal worker and later learned die engraving with the medallist Suhl.  In 1701 he was  employed by the Bishop of Chur.  Later he moved to Berlin the then to Weimar, until finally he settled down at Nuremberg in 1705.  In 1720 he was appointed Engraver to the Episcopal See of Wurzburg, and in 1732 he was made Court medallist to the Elector of Bavaria.  During this period he produced several hundred medals,  many of which relate to English and Swedish history.  Like Georg Hautsch, he signed many of his medals with his private mark of a star.

Warin, Claude: Claude Warin was Jean Warin’s younger brother.  He was born between 1611 and 1616 and died in 1654.  Claude Warin made large, cast portrait medallions. His workmanship, therefore, was different from that of his brother, Jean Warin, whose later medals were often struck.

Warin, Jean: Jean Warin was born at Liege about 1604 and died in Paris in 1672.  He is considered to be one of the foremost medalists of France and the best French Engraver of coin-dies of the seventeenth century.  Of the many medals attributed to him, most were engraved and struck although some were cast. Besides medal making Jean Warin had a variety of other  interests.  He distinguished himself somewhat as a painter but most particularly as a sculptor, even rivaling the great Italian sculptor Bernini.  He also experimented in medal making capacity of machinery and helped develop an improved method for coin making.  In fact, his fame was established more for his other artistic endeavors than for those as a medallist.

Jean Warin led a somewhat checkered personal life.  He seduced the wife of one of his compatriots and was accused at one point of forging coins, for which he was sentenced to banishment for five years.  Fortunately for him he had cultivated a champion in Cardinal Richelieu, who, so as not to lose the skill of this great artist, intervened on his behalf, resulting in a pardon.

Jean Warin occupies a pivotal place in the history of medallic art.  He took the techniques developed during the Italian renaissance and by mastering the machinery at the Monnaie du Moulin, transformed the art to serve the state.  His influence extended not only in France but throughout all of Northern Europe, well into the eighteenth century. (From Forrer and Jones).

Wermuth, Christian: Christian Wermuth (1661-1739) was a famous German medallist, born in Altenberg and died in Gotha.  He was educated in Dresden where he learned die-sinking. In 1689 he was appointed Engraver to the Mint at Gotha and in 1688 Court Medallist to the Ducal House of Saxony.  In 1703 Wermuth was appointed Court Medallist to King Frederick I of Prussia.  With the help of his pupils, Wermuth issued, over the space of about twenty years, over 1300 medals.  Forrer notes that, with few exceptions, his medals are of little artistic merit.  They are noteworthy, however, in that many of his medals were satirical in content, some of which were suppressed and consequently of great rarity.  Included in this group of satirical medals are a large number of anti-Semitic medals, such as the Korn Jude and Feder Jude medals.  Indeed, Christian Wermuth has the unsavory reputation of being the foremost anti-Semitic medallist in history (see Friedenberg).

Wiener, Jacques (Jacob): The Wieners were a Jewish-Flemish family of extraordinary artists and die engravers. Jacob Wiener (1815-1899), who often signed his medals as Jacques Wiener, was the eldest of three brothers [the others were Leopold (1823-1891) and Charles (1832-1888)], all of whom excelled in the art of medal engraving.   Jacques was born of Hungarian parents, studied in Paris and then settled in Brussels.  In 1845 he  decided to engrave medals representing the exterior and interior of monuments with a degree of precision of details that had not yet been attempted.  The first in the series was a group of ten medals, 50 mm in diameter, depicting  famous Belgian churches. All but one of these medals were done in collaboration with his brother Leopold.  Jacques Wiener then undertook what was to be a series of 50 medals, each 59 mm in diameter, entitled “Medals of the most remarkable Edifices of Europe”, to represent the principal monuments of Europe. Of these the majority were cathedrals, churches and mosques.  Three depicted synagogues.  He was unable to complete the whole task as only 41 medals were issued, some of which were done in conjunction with his brother Charles.  He also engraved dies for a large number of other monuments, including prisons, town halls, the stock exchange etc.  In addition to buildings, he engraved dies for individuals commemorating  important events in their lives. His work was not only prodigious but was also the best rendition of perspective of the interior of buildings I have seen.  This intricate and minute work, however, was to take it toll, for by 1872 Wiener had almost completely lost his eyesight, and after 1874 he produced no more medals. His collective works have been catalogued by Emiel van Hoydonck who lists, mostly with photographs, 233 medals and 62 jetons by Jacques Wiener. The vast majority of his medals were struck in bronze, with a relatively few in silver.

Born in the Bronx and raised on a chicken farm in New Jersey, Ben received his undergraduate and graduate training from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, where he earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1963. He worked at the National Institutes of Health, Columbia University, and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where he held the positions of Professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry and Chief of the Division of Neuropsychopharmacology.  He was also a Visiting Scientist at the Mario Negri Institute in Milan, Italy, and a Visiting Scientist at the Weitzman Institute in Israel. He currently is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Dr. Weiss has edited two books and has published over 300 scientific articles on his research in the fields of Molecular Biology and Molecular Pharmacology. He has been an invited speaker at most of the major universities and research institutions in the United States and at dozens of national and international conferences, which has afforded him the opportunity of visiting some of the greatest museum collections of medals in the world. These included a number of fine collections of medals not normally on public display, such as the wonderful collection of medals compiled by George III of England at the British Museum, London, the entire Kress Collection of Renaissance Medals at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Vernon Hall Collection of European Medals, the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and the collection of Italian Baroque medals at the Modena Museum, Modena, Italy.

Ben was introduced to the field of medal collecting in 1972 and since then has been an avid collector of historical and commemorative medals.  He is currently a Member of the Board of the Medal Collectors of America and the Webmaster of the website of the Medal Collectors of America. In addition to collecting medals, Ben has published a  website of his own, Collection of Historical and Commemorative Medals, which presents images and historical commentaries on over 400 medals, both European and American, dating from the 16th through the 19th centuries.