The most famous Roman/Byzantine gold medal was discovered in 1751, at Caesarea ad Argaeum, in the province of Cappadocia. It was the highlight of the Cabinet des Medailles of the Bibliotheque Nationlale de France, until it mysteriously disappeared in 1831 ! The phrase "mysteriously disappeared" is used by security companies and police, it is a polite way of saying stolen . The original medal weighed approximately 163 grams, or 5.24 troy ounces, and had a diameter of 85 mm . It was struck at the Constantinople mint and commemorates the victory of Belisarius over the Kingdom of the Vandals in AD 534. The obverse depicts Justinian in battle dress holding a spear; the inscription reads: D N JVSTINIANVS P P AVG. The reverse depicts Justinian in battle dress holding a spear while riding horseback, and being led by Victory holding a trophy (I really doubt Justinian had a physical presence in Africa during this war ); the inscription reads: SALVS ET GLORIA ROMANORVM, in exergue CON O B. Lot 1035 in CNG Triton XXV had two gilt electrotype shells, one of the obverse and the other of the reverse, that were made from a sulfur cast of the original medal in the British Museum, pictured below. Lot 1035 had an estimate of $2,500 and realized $19,200 . I don't recall an electrotype of an ancient coin selling for more than that . It's hard to believe a treasure like the original gold medal would have been melted down for bullion value , so where is this medal today ? Photo courtesy of CNG.
Nifty medal and bigger than the famous giant coin of Eukratides. Speaking of medallions I will share this one of Caracalla...discovered in Egypt. According to Herodian, images of Alexander were celebrated all over the Empire because of Caracalla's belief that he was a reincarnation of Alexander. Cassius Dio refers to a 16,000 man force established by Caracalla and equipped with long pikes and 4th-century B.C.E. armor, duplicating the Macedonian phalanx. Clearly, Caracalla's megalomania knew no bounds, as he believed he was the 2nd coming of Alexander, that is until he was assassinated at Carrhae in Syria. Anyway, I thought I would share this most interesting piece. Sadly I don't have the size and weight but it appears quite hefty. I would tend to accept the notion that the medallions were issued by Caracalla himself.
This medallion did not "mysteriously disappear" at all, it was stolen, yes, together with more than 2000 ancient gold coins and other unique treasures, in the Burglary of the Century (the 19th, of course). The burglary was committed in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, in the night of the 5/6 November 1831. The robbers had stolen all ancient and modern gold coins, but also unique gold objects like medallions, the Charlemagne's Cup, King Louis I the Pious' sceptre and the gold funerary treasure of Childeric, king of the Franks, father of king Clovis who founded the French monarchy and state in the late 5th c. Eugène François Vidocq, Director of the Sûreté Nationale, was called. This man was the most famous French policeman of the time. He was himself a ex-convict who had served years in jail, had escaped several times, and personally knew many of the worst thugs of the early 19th c. He had created the Sûreté (a plain clothes police) under Napoleon and had survived all the regime changes, entrusted by the emperor, the restored Bourbon monarchy and the constitutional monarchy of 1830. Inspecting the crime scene in the Bibliothèque Nationale, he reconstructed the modus operandi and declared he knew only one man able to do this, Étienne Fossard, but who was presently in jail. Then he was told that Fossard had just escaped one week ago and was on the run. Vidocq's men, many of them ex-convicts too, started a manhunt in Paris with the help of informants. Fossard was soon caught, but he denied everything and there was no evidence against him. When policemen raided his brother Jacques' home, they found gold ingots and all the tools needed to melt gold. Jacques talked, and confessed he had panicked, melted most of the coins and gold objects, and thrown the rest in the river Seine. Divers were sent and recovered a few pieces from under the Pont Marie (a bridge). All accomplices were arrested and sentenced to decades in bagne (forced labor), except for the gang's fence: Delphine de Jacquot d’Andelarre, Vicountess of Nays-Candau, a friend of the Queen! Gold ingots from the burglary were recovered from her home but, to avoid a state scandal, she was not prosecuted and could flee to Switzerland with a few ingots. The biggest loss was Childeric's gold ring, a true national treasure. It was never recovered, but only a few gold and enamel bees from his mantle and his sword guard. In subsequent years the Cabinet des Médailles bought on the market many Greek and Roman gold coins to replace the stolen ones, but of course unique medallions could never be replaced. Fortunately Mionnet, an assistant curator, had made sulphur casts like the one in the OP. There is a small chance some of the gold coins (and even more !) is still on the river floor under the Pont Marie in Paris. In my childhood I used to cross this bridge twice a day on my way to school, but I never heard a distant voice from the river saying : "Hey ! I'm Childeric ! I'm still here !"
Truly shows these criminals lacked brain cells. Who in their right mind would melt down rare gold coins/ artifacts....
Gino, Many thanks for the detailed info on the 1831 burglary ! This must have been a well planed "inside job" . What a horrible loss if all those coins were melted down , especially when you consider gold was worth only about $20.00 an ounce in 1831. The event of the burglary & it's aftermath would make for an interesting documentary film .
Precisely because they are rare! Selling them was impossible because collectors would quickly recognize stolen coins from the Cabinet des Médailles, which would alert authorities, who would be able to spot the culprits. Gold ingots are less valuable but they are anonymous...
The story of Vidocq is so famous and legendary that he became some sort of super-hero crimefighter avant la lettre, a sort of mix between Sherlock Holmes and Batman. Check out the movie they did 20 years ago highly fictionalized: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164961/
Not an inside job, I don't think so, nothing such was found. The culprits have been identified and none of them had any connexion with the Cabinet des Médailles curators or staff.
"Killed in 1830" ??? this is highly fictionalized indeed! I have seen this movie and, sincerely, I did not like it too much. But it deserves to remain in the history of cinema: it is the first numeric movie, the first ever not to be, literally, a film. There was also the 2018 film "The Emperor of Paris". I haven't seen it.
Are you sure? It's currently showing as unsold. Here's the BM electrotype. There was an interesting silver replica of this sold on eBay last year. It was 1Kg of 0.800 or 0.925 silver and oversized at 116mm rather than the 85mm original. Interestlingly it is 100% faithful to the BM electrotype, so it seems the enlargement must have been done in some automated fashion. It sold for around $600 - less than melt value! I was going to bid on it, but there's no NGC slab big enough, so that was a dealbreaker for me
As one of the larger gold pieces stolen, it seems very likely that the medallion was among those melted down rather than merely tossed in the river. It's been almost 200 years, and I think it's gone forever. However: is it really likely that the stolen specimen was the only one minted? If it wasn't, then in theory there could be others waiting to be dug up someday. Unless any others that were minted were also melted down, either before being buried or after discovery.
How did the French acquire it, was it looted by Napoleon when he seized Austrian Territory in Northern Italy? A lot of the paintings in the Louvre where stolen from Venice/ Milan/ Genoa 1797-1814. As Donna stated, they could have been more struck. Maybe the Ottomans found them, after taking Constantinople in 1453? Or some are in collections. The fabled AV 1000 Mohurs of Jahangir was thought to be a myth/ until the Nizam of Hyderabad showed he had the 1000 and the 500 Mohurs in his coll.
There were twenty or so identical gold medallions of 8 Aurei of Claudius Gothicus included in the Lava hoard which makes it likely that these items were produced in the dozens or even hundreds, even though no others have survived in these high numbers.
Most, if not all of what the French looted in the late 1790s and early 1800s was given back to the previous owners as soon as 1814. There are several paintings that were looted and are still in French museums, but it is because their previous owners did not reclaim them or preferred a financial compensation. This medallion was discovered in Turkey in 1751. It was most probably bought by order of Louis XV or XVI for the royal collection. Since Louis XIV (1643-1715) the French ambassadors, consuls, merchants in the Middle East and Asia had orders to systematically buy rare manuscripts and antiquities.
