102931 | GERMANY. Confirmation silver Medal.

102931  |  GERMANY. Confirmation silver Medal. Issued circa 1850 (37mm, 12h). By Drentwett in Augsburg.

 

SIE EMPFIENGEN D. HEIL. GEIST, confirmation scene, with bishop and attendant to right, and child with family to left; radiant dove above // ZUM / ANDENKEN / AN D. HEIL / FIRMUNG in four lines within wreath. GPH –.

 

PCGS SP-64. Highly brilliant and mirrored, with some hints of rose toning around some of the devices.

 

While one may now purchase a silver round—usually struck to the weight of one ounce and with a variety of religious-themed designs—as a gift for a child upon said child's baptism or confirmation, the practice is in no way modern. In 18th and 19th century Germany in particular, the practice was commonplace, with mints in Nürnberg and, later on, the Loos workshop in Berlin and the Drentwett workshop in Augsburg, striking countless tokens and medals to be used as baptismal (and related) gifts. While the Nürnberg issues tended to verge upon actual coinage, such as the multiple and fractional gold ducat agnus Dei—or Lamb of God—issues, or billon kerzendreier that had more of an ecclesiastic token status, those later from the Loos and Drentwett workshops were fully in the medallic realm, with the firm mixing and matching various obverse and reverse dies with numerous Biblical scenes. One of the leading references for this area of medallic art is Kreß auction 115 from 1960, which presented the combined collections of Marie Luise Goppel and Dr. Plum-Holler, commonly referred to as Goppel-Plum-Holler, or simply GPH. As comprehensive as those combined collections were, some related types, like this piece, eluded even their massive holdings.

 

Upload: 16 April 2026.