Images(2)

Marksmanship medal

dated 1537

Object PlaceDresden, Germany

Medium/TechniqueSilver, partially gilded

DimensionsDiameter and weight: 127 mm (5 in.)

Credit LineFrederick Brown Fund

Accession number48.1247

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsNumismatics

Collections

Europe

Description

Many German cities and towns had shooting clubs, first established in medieval times for defense and later for recreational sport.

InscriptionsReverse: Inscribed at center "MIT:WISEN:VND:WILEN:EINS/ERBARN:RAT:VND:DER:GEM/ENEN:BRVDERSCHAFT:DER:BVCHSEN:SCHVUC3EN:3V:DR/ESD [ellision above]:HAT:WOLF:SPRVNG:VN [ellision above]:/MELCHER:D["R" inside "O"]ST:DAS:KLEN/OT:MACHEN:LASN [ellision above]:1537" Translation: With knowledge and intent of an honorable advisor and the Common Brotherhood of Marksmen at Dresden Wolfgang Sprung and Melchior Dorst had this object made 1537Provenance1948, sold by Blumka Gallery, New York, to the MFA for $450. (Accession Date: November 18, 1948)

NOTE: At the time the medal was acquired, it was said to come from the collection of Prince Ratibor in Austria. This collecting history has, however, not been verified.

The Dresden Shooting Club possessed a parcel-gilt silver medal of identical design, with two medallions appended by small rings on either side. The Shooting Club sold its medal to Nathaniel von Rothschild of Vienna in 1878 (the present location of this medal is unknown; it was sold with other objects from the Rothschild collection, Christie’s, London, July 8, 1999). At the time of the 1878 sale a copy was made, and a third medallion was added to the copy. The treasury of the Shooting Club—including the new, electroplated medal with a third medallion—was incorporated into the collection of the City Museum Dresden in 1891. At the end of World War II the medal, along with more than 80 percent of the City Museum’s collection, was lost following the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and the subsequent occupation by Soviet forces.

The MFA has conducted extensive scientific testing to determine whether its medal could be identical to the one lost by the City Museum Dresden. The MFA object was probably made using the lost-wax casting technique, rather than electroplate; the small rings on either side were cast as part of the medal. Even after examination under a scanning electron microscope, no clear indication could be found that a third ring had ever been attached. It could not be determined whether the medal dates to the 16th century or the 19th century. The MFA has shared the results of its research, which was ultimately inconclusive, with the curatorial staff of the City Museum Dresden.