102772 | LOWLANDS & AUSTRIA. Reception of the Salzburg emigrants silver Medal.

102772  |  LOW COUNTRIES & AUSTRIA. Reception of the Salzburg emigrants silver Medal. Issued 1733 (48mm, 46.13 g, 11h). By Martin Holtzhey.

 

BELGIUM FOEDERATUM, Belgia (female personification of the historical region) seated right on ship, holding pole surmounted by phrygian cap and resting elbow upon shield; grain field in background; to left, ox reclining right // PERFUGIUM MISERIS, Belgia standing facing, head slightly right, protecting the emigrants with her shield and stretching out her right hand towards an altar (around which the personifications of Faith and Mercy stand); to inner left, lion reclining left, holding bundle of arrows; in three lines in exergue, DCCC SALISBURGENS IB' / SEDES ASSIGNATÆ / MDCCXXXIII. Edge: Plain.

 

van Loon II, 80; Whiting 473; Opitz 2953; Zöttl 2723. PCGS SP-58. Intense brilliance in the fields, with some scattered marks and irregular toning; a few trivial marks on the edge are noted merely for completeness. A fairly rare and desirable type, and the only representative observed in the PCGS census.

 

In 1731, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Leopold Anton von Firmian, issued an expulsion edict to drive out the remaining Protestant population. Over the next few years, this led to their subsequent resettlement in more religiously-friendly areas of Europe, such as the Dutch Republic (as recounted on this medal), and even in the American colony of Georgia.

 

Upload: 2 January 2025.