Battle of Marengo copper electrotype shell Medal L'An VIII (1800) UNC, Bramsen-33, by Montagny, 68.8mm. Made by Bertrand Andrieu.
Really I should wait until I have the piece in hand and take my own nice photo like the other ancient collectors but I just won this piece at auction. This is the auction house photo, I haven't even gotten the invoice yet, not to mention not yet paid for. It's a Roman Republican Aes Grave series. Bronze As, 269-240 BC, wt 276.94 grams. I recall the wheel design was also a featured motif in the cast coinage of the period of non-Roman Italy.
Thanks, but Aes Graves, and ancient bronze coins in general, are not popular with those who like small, portable, & expensive items. Thus for it's rarity, it's kind of inexpensive. This exact item sold in the same auctioneer's site a few years ago and realized 1,500 euro less! However, one can't always hope for the best deal for really unusual pieces and I was still happy to get it. I've been using the more common & later Janus Head Aes Grave for my lectures with high school students but like this design for its connection with technology and inventions. These are also available in multiples but those are quite rare and are genuinely expensive.
Papal medal with deep perspective by Bianchi, 82mm, 265gms. From the Stack's Bowers sale of Anthony Terranova's medals.
The penny tokens of the Parys Mines Company (Anglesey) were among the heftiest tokens of the Conder era. Hundreds of tons of tokens were minted and occasionally used as the planchet for other tokens. This is a penny token of Durham struck over such a penny from Parys Mines (35mm, 29gms). The Durham die was a few millimeters smaller than the underlying token so vestiges of the host token are visible on both obverse and reverse.
I totally agree. You post such fine coins, I always wonder why you are called a "Junior Member" when your stuff is so elegant and "senior"?
I came across large papal medals for the first time in 2007 when Stack's Coin Galleries auction contained this group of 4 medals. I thought the images had been enlarged but they were actual sizes ranging from 68-82 mms. Recently picked up the last of the four, Pius IX, Completion of the Albano-Ariccia bridge in 1854.
I love big coppers too. Ubiquitous cartwheel 2d: Russian 5 kopeks 1794, KM C#59.3: Posted elsewhere but a good size - Angola 40 reis 1757 KM#9. ø39mm, 29g: Birmingham Workhouse token (Withers 383). ø44mm, 67.9g.
But you have to hand it to those Swedes and their plätmynt. ½ daler 1743, KM#P65. Marine salvage, so probably from the Nicobar. 1 daler 1746, KM#PM68. Made from cannon bronze. And the pride and joy of my collection - 4 dalers 1734, KM#PM74. 3023g. 50p for scale. A cartwheel 2d will just cover one of the stamps. To me, it's mind-blowing.
The Earl of Derby, Guild Mayor of Preston and the Countess of Derby Medal 1902. I have seen several of these on the net in pewter and only 32mm, whereas this one is copper and 50mm. Also has "Francis Hamilton Mellor, Recorder of Preston" engraved on the edge - he was a senior legal figure in England at the time and also a noted cricketer. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Mellor