Lot 242: [ GERMAN MEDALS ]

MATTHES GEBEL (c. 1500-74) Georg Hermann (1491-1552), bronze medal, 1529, GEORGIVS HERMAN AETATIS SAE AN XXXVIII, bust right, aged 38, with beard and cap, wearing chain, rev. a burning candle on a shelf flanked by MD - XXIX; below, FVNGENDO CONSVMOR in two lines over two shields, one bearing devices of star and moon, the other blank, and helmet with crest, all within wreathed border, 38.2mm (Habich 1001 [41mm]; Pollard 721 = Kress 597b, in lead), smoothed edge, a very fine early cast

Provenance: Numismatica Genevensis 4, 11-12 December 2006, lot 322. Georg Hermann was employed by the Fugger business in Antwerp and in Schwaz in the Tyrol. He married Barbara Reihing in 1512. Pollard relates that the reverse design was discussed in correspondence between Hermann, Catulos Fugger and Jorg Hofmann, a Fugger agent, and the medal commissioned from 'mayster Mathes'.