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I thought you might like to see what I regard as my best find, although from some years ago, and for historical reasons rather than value. It came from the Thames foreshore, east of London. It’s lead, 42mm (a little over an inch and a half) in diameter and a thick chunky thing.
It took some aggressive cleaning, including the use of an industrial product used for restoring the finish on roofing lead, to bring out the detail but frustratingly I couldn’t make out what I thought was a date at the bottom.
The curious thing is that the wording of the legends is mostly (but not completely) in reversed mirror image, with numerous errors. Almost as if produced by someone illiterate or not bright enough to realise that an engraved die produces a reversed cast. What is sometimes known in the numismatic world as “blundered”. There’s a latin quote: CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCVNT which has been used as a motto by various states at different times and I was leaning towards it being Dutch.
The hilarious thing is that on one side there are three guys with their trousers down, taking a dump(!) and the other side shows three guys having a dust-up with swords. My belief was that it probably represented a satirical observation on the contempt shown by some group of three European countries for a treaty or squabbling about territories, borders and empires. A bit like the period satirical cartoon prints you sometimes see. But, without a date, I didn’t know which of many such historical disputes it might relate to.
Thanks to those fine folks at the British Museum, it was identified as a satirical medal produced in Germany in 1714, expressing national discontent felt at the conclusion of the ‘Peace of Utrecht’ and a belief that the peace treaties signed in 1713/1714 by the belligerents who participated in the War of the Spanish Succession wouldn’t hold good.
They have a better condition example in their collection (drat… theirs is silver), reproduced below. It’s rare but I don’t know how rare for those made in lead, although I've never seen another one. Note that theirs is reversed too, so I have mirrored the pictures in Photoshop for ease of reading:
[Copyright of the Trustees of the British Museum]
Obverse: Three men, an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Dutchman, all partially undressed, defecating under a wall. All three have words issuing from their mouths. The Dutchman is smoking a pipe. CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCVNT (By concord small things increase)
Dutchman: IK MAEK MEE (I do it also)
Frenchman: SI VOUS PLAIT (If you please)
Englishman: I AM PLEASE
NOOT BREEKT ISEN (Necessity breaks Iron)
PAX OU TREC (Peace or dirt, and also a “pun” for the Peace of Utrecht.)
1713
Reverse: The same three men, fully dressed, throw at each other the contents of the heap which they are represented making on the other side.
DISCORDIA MAXIMA DILABVNTVR (By discord the greatest things will fall)
Dutchman: WAT! BEHAEGT U DAT? (What! Does that please you?)
Frenchman: SANS REGARD (Without regard)
Englishman: FIE, WHAT IS THAT!
DAT SOL IE HIER BEWISN (That I will prove here)
PAX IN TREC (Peace in dirt, reiterating the “pun” on Peace of Utrecht on the obverse)
1714
It took some aggressive cleaning, including the use of an industrial product used for restoring the finish on roofing lead, to bring out the detail but frustratingly I couldn’t make out what I thought was a date at the bottom.
The curious thing is that the wording of the legends is mostly (but not completely) in reversed mirror image, with numerous errors. Almost as if produced by someone illiterate or not bright enough to realise that an engraved die produces a reversed cast. What is sometimes known in the numismatic world as “blundered”. There’s a latin quote: CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCVNT which has been used as a motto by various states at different times and I was leaning towards it being Dutch.
The hilarious thing is that on one side there are three guys with their trousers down, taking a dump(!) and the other side shows three guys having a dust-up with swords. My belief was that it probably represented a satirical observation on the contempt shown by some group of three European countries for a treaty or squabbling about territories, borders and empires. A bit like the period satirical cartoon prints you sometimes see. But, without a date, I didn’t know which of many such historical disputes it might relate to.
Thanks to those fine folks at the British Museum, it was identified as a satirical medal produced in Germany in 1714, expressing national discontent felt at the conclusion of the ‘Peace of Utrecht’ and a belief that the peace treaties signed in 1713/1714 by the belligerents who participated in the War of the Spanish Succession wouldn’t hold good.
They have a better condition example in their collection (drat… theirs is silver), reproduced below. It’s rare but I don’t know how rare for those made in lead, although I've never seen another one. Note that theirs is reversed too, so I have mirrored the pictures in Photoshop for ease of reading:
[Copyright of the Trustees of the British Museum]
Obverse: Three men, an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Dutchman, all partially undressed, defecating under a wall. All three have words issuing from their mouths. The Dutchman is smoking a pipe. CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCVNT (By concord small things increase)
Dutchman: IK MAEK MEE (I do it also)
Frenchman: SI VOUS PLAIT (If you please)
Englishman: I AM PLEASE
NOOT BREEKT ISEN (Necessity breaks Iron)
PAX OU TREC (Peace or dirt, and also a “pun” for the Peace of Utrecht.)
1713
Reverse: The same three men, fully dressed, throw at each other the contents of the heap which they are represented making on the other side.
DISCORDIA MAXIMA DILABVNTVR (By discord the greatest things will fall)
Dutchman: WAT! BEHAEGT U DAT? (What! Does that please you?)
Frenchman: SANS REGARD (Without regard)
Englishman: FIE, WHAT IS THAT!
DAT SOL IE HIER BEWISN (That I will prove here)
PAX IN TREC (Peace in dirt, reiterating the “pun” on Peace of Utrecht on the obverse)
1714
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