Medal to commemorate the creation of the Main Assay Office of the Kingdom of Poland at the Warsaw Mint, mintage unknown

At our auctions, we also had such spectacular medals as the one shown below. The item is known in only 5 copies, of which only two copies are in private hands, including this one. Listed only once in auction house offers, just at our auction.

A high-class issue issued to commemorate the establishment of the Main Assay Office of the Kingdom of Poland at the Warsaw Mint in an unknown mintage. The author of the medal stamps was one of the most talented and famous Polish medalists – Józef Majnert, whose signatures can be seen on the raised rim on the obverse and reverse.

This medal is one of the last works of this brilliant minter and known forger, as it was in 1851 that he was released from the Warsaw Mint. At the same time, the medal must have been created after April 10, 1851, because then in the Ukaz of Tsar Nicholas I, it was ordered to be created.

The medal itself was struck on a thick (4-4.6 mm) disc with a very deep relief, reaching the maximum point of the obverse to the distance of 3 mm from the rim edge, which required a huge technological effort of the Mint’s employees. In addition, the image itself has been deeply engraved in the medal and gives the impression of three-dimensionality of many objects, which is additionally emphasized by the line of the section leaning almost to the level of the edge of the rim.

A copy struck probably as one of the last, with visible lines of cracking of the obverse die around 12 o’clock and on the reverse around 1 o’clock. A beautiful, mirrored background in the lowest parts of the medal, created thanks to the skilful preparation of the stamps by the Mint’s medalists, while cutting off this effect by the matte background of the rim.