Carl XI gold "Uppsala Synod Centenary" Medal of 50 Ducats 1693-Dated MS60 NGC, Hildebrand-I, pg. 445, 119, Whiting-143 var. (RR; in silver, smaller size), SGM-Unl. 63mm. 173.38gm. By Arvid Karlsteen. A charming allegorical medal, produced upon the centenary of the Uppsala Synod of 1593, by which Duke Carl of Sweden (the future Carl IX) established the kingdom's formal confession of its Lutheran faith. Illustrating a ship sailing on stormy seas, the imagery is evocative of Sweden's complicated history with the Roman Catholic Church, from which it had broken away in the 1520s amidst the Protestant Reformation, though it took over 70 years for the monarchy to formally proclaim its adherence to Lutheranism. According to an article written by Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel in the April 1694 Monatliche Unterredungen einiger guter Freunde von allerhand Büchern, etc., King Carl XII had such medals produced for bestowal upon the Universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, cities that had played such an influential role in Electoral-Saxony from the earliest days of Martin Luther's preaching. The first such reference to the type in gold we have been able to locate occurred in Lochner's 1743 catalog Samlung merkwürdiger Medaillen, which was itself citing the "Puffendorfische continuation" (see pg. 122). Although also noted by Hildebrand to exist in gold, auction records of the last 20 years reveal only silver examples of this medallic type. While admitting scattered die rust on the reverse, little other evidence suggests that this piece was produced much later than the date it carries, and indeed we can locate these same features on the remaining silver specimens that have sold over the last decade. On the whole, the execution can only be regarded as admirable, its reliefs producing little die strain, while the features are absent any weakness.

HID09801242017

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