103196 | GERMANY. Saxony. End of Famine & Inflation white metal Medal.

103196  |  GERMANY. Saxony. End of Famine & Inflation white metal Medal. Issued 1772 (34mm, 10.81, 12h). By Johann Christian Reich.

 

GOTT GIBD SONNE U: REGEN (God provides both sunshine and rain, —adapted from Acts of the Apostles 14:17), radiant personification of the sun over rainbow; below, valley between two hillsides fully abloom with crops; APO. 14. 17. // 1772. / DAS. 3. VIERTEL / IAHR. / DER SEEGENSREICHE / UNDANGENEHME / SOMMER U ERNDE / IN FELDFRÜCHTEN / UND GESUNDE LUFFT / DAS. #. BROD. KOS. 6. KR / IN SAXEN. 8. PFEN / IOH: CH: REICH. F: / FEIN ZINN." (in the third quarter of 1772, there was a blessed and pleasant summer, and the earth was rich in crops and clean air; in Saxony, bread cost 6 kreuzer, 8 pfennigs). Edge: Plain.

 

Brettauer 1948. Choice Mint State. Highly flashy and brilliant, with tremendous luster remaining–especially for the metal type, which remains free from pestering and hairlining.

 

Ex Gerhard Hirsch 74 (29 June 1971), lot 619.

 

A particularly severe famine occurred in and around Saxony and other neighboring German-speaking lands from 1770–1772, which was the result of heavy rains and crop failures. This, in turn, led to the spread of epidemic diseases from malnutrition and migration. In Saxony alone, the estimated death toll is believed to have been as high as 60,000, which accounts for the prevalence of the famine (both its ravages and its subsequent end) on medallic art of the period. For a time, it was an inescapable aspect of life—a sentiment with which we are all now quite familiar, post COVID.

 

Upload: 18 August 2025.

 

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