The Medals Column #2 One
American Art Medal Series by Samuel
Pennington Collectors looking for an
undervalued field might well consider the American art medal. Why? A Belgian Web
site (www.artmedal.be/) provides the artistic
part of the answer: “Designed to be held in the hand, medals represent the
ultimate in portable art and are often miniature sculptural masterpieces.”
Prices realized at auctions provide the financial side of the answer. Art
medals are in a strange limbo. Coin collectors are not interested in them, nor
are art collectors, despite the fact that art medals were done by the best sculptors
of the day: Paul Manship, Victor D. Brenner, John Flanagan, James Earle Fraser,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens among them. With few exceptions, prices for works by well-known
sculptors sold in the medals trade do not come close to those asked in the sculpture
trade. Joel Rosenkranz, a partner
in Conner-Rosenkranz, New York City, a leading representational sculpture dealership,
and coauthor of numerous books on sculpture, cites the difficulty of displaying
medals as a factor and adds, “It’s an esoteric field, and sometimes
when objects are affordable, and there is an opportunity to acquire them, art
collectors are skeptical.” Cameron
Shay of James Graham & Sons, New York City, another leading sculpture dealer,
agrees with the display problem. “They are wonderful objects, but what do
you do with them?” This
column is about one of two reasonably abundant and affordable public subscription
series: the 12 medals issued by the Circle of Friends of the Medallion from 1909
to 1915. Next month we’ll cover those issued by the Society of Medalists
(129 medals, 1930-95). The two
American series were issued by subscription for similar reasons—to promote
the appreciation of medallic art—and met similar fates, both just running
out of steam. The advent of World War I also hastened the demise of the Circle
series. —The
Circle of Friends of the Medallion The
Circle series defined itself on the last page of each of its books containing
the medals: “The Circle of Friends of the Medallion is a band of artists
and lovers of the arts, of both sexes, who hope to encourage in the public a taste
for small sculptures and especially for bas-relief. Designs are chosen by the
Art Committee, Medals and other sculptures issued by the Circle go to members
only, without charge beyond the annual dues. They are not offered publicly for
sale. They are of bronze, unless a costlier metal is called for at an additional
cost.” Medals from the Circle
of Friends of the Medallion were inset into small books, 12 in all, each with
several pages of description or artists’ notes. Each book had a gold-colored
sticker with the likeness of Renaissance painter and sculptor Antonio di Puccio
Pisano (better known as Pisanello), who is credited with introducing the portrait
medal. D. Wayne Johnson, writing on (www.medalcollectors.org), estimates
that no more than 500 of each were sent to subscribers. The
medals were done by the leading sculptors of the day: John Flanagan, Victor David
Brenner, and Paul Manship among them. Prices run from around $200 to $400. To
my mind, having the original book adds much value, but it does not seem to matter
in the marketplace. Medal auctions and eBay are the main sources these days. Display
is a problem. The books go well on a bookshelf, but unless you take the medal
out of the book, all you have to show is a small shelf of books. Even
though Circle of Friends medals (especially with their original book holders)
are rarer than Society of Medalists medals, they don’t necessarily bring
more money. Joe Levine’s Presidential Coin and Antique Company’s auction
in Baltimore on July 15, 2006, offered ten of the 12 Circle medals, all in their
books. Top price was $287.50, reached by three medals. The lowest priced was $115.
The Paul Manship medal, number 11, New York
Tercentenary, normally the
highest priced of the series, brought $287.50 with its book and $201.25 without
the book. See the accompanying pictures for a complete listing of Circle medals
and their prices at the July 2006 auction. The
medals are first class; the descriptions in the books are complete. This is a
series worth looking for. | 
