(Ca. 1780s-90s) Benjamin Franklin portrait medallion, likely by J.G. Hilpert of Nuremberg. Painted pewter. 104 mm. Mount at 12 o’clock, now missing hanger.

A simple but earnest bust of Franklin with head bowed facing left on the obverse. The painted back has an additional paint inscription, apparently accomplished at the time of manufacture, reading "Dr. Fracklin" in black script. Franklin's cheeks are rosy, his hair silver, wearing a dark crimson coat. A black peripheral rim self-frames a gilt interior ring and olive gray fields. Some paint loss is seen, including on Franklin's chest and back, but the surfaces appear totally original with no inpainting or repairs. The visual appeal is excellent. Mr. Margolis attributes this to Hilpert on the strength of the similarity of the fabric of this piece and a signed portrait of Goethe published in Frankfurt in 1974. We further note a Hilpert-signed portrait of Frederick the Great sold in the Netherlands in 2016 that is clearly from the same workshop. Another example of this Franklin portrait was sold in Heidelberg in the April 1966 sale of the Dr. Richard Gaettens Collection. Johann Georg Hilpert and his brother Johann Gottfried Hilpert are best remembered today for another of their innovative uses of painted tin: the invention of the tin soldier.

From the Richard Margolis Collection. Earlier from Spink & Son, London, January 1976, purchased off the wall of David Spink's office.

Estimate: $2000