103428 | ITALY. Holy Roman Emperor Federico (Frederick) III cast bronze Medal.

103428  |  ITALY. Holy Roman Emperor Federico (Frederick) III cast bronze Medal. Dated 1469, though a contemporary or an early cast from the late 15th/early 16th centuries. (55mm, 61.31 g, 1h). By Bertoldo di Giovanni, [circa 1420/30-1491].

 

FREdERICVS TERCIVS ROMANORVM IMPERATOR SEMPER / AVGVSTVS, robed bust left, wearing brimmed cap // The emperor creating new knights in the presence of the pope, cardinals, and foot soldiers upon Ponte Sant' Angelo in Rome; boat below the bridge, from which a swag hangs supported by two putti; on the bridge reads a legend in two lines: CXXII EqVITES CREAT KALEN / DE IANVARE MCCCCLXIX (he created 122 knights on the first of January, 1469). Edge: Some scattered marks, otherwise plain.

 

Pollard 283 = Kress 249; Scher Coll. 90; Michael Hall Coll., part I, 11 (this piece). Rare and full of dramatic, intricate imagery upon the reverse, this pleasing specimen offers a fantastic pedigree to the Hall Collection, where it realized a total price of £1,593 ($2,408 after the buyer's fee) at auction in May 2010.

 

Pollard, in Renaissance Medals, writes that "...Emperor Frederick III (1415-1493) visited Pope Paul II in Rome to discuss action against the Turkish invasions. The emperor had previously visited Rome in 1452 for his coronation, when Cristoforo di Geremia made a medal with an imaginary portrait of Emperor Constantine the Great. On I January 1469, the emperor created 122 knights on the Ponte Elio (Ponte Sant' Angelo), and it is this event that the medal illustrates and commemorates. On the obverse, the inscription refers to Frederick as "perpetual Augustus," in imitation of antique practice. The medal may have been a gift to the emperor from Filippo de Medici and has also been incorrectly attributed to Candida." In The Scher Collection of Commemorative Medals, it is mentioned that "...some early specimens have the misspelling of "senper" for "semper" in the reverse inscription, but later casts corrected the mistake." and that "...given the fresh eyewitness character of the reverse, it is possible that Bertoldo—artist of the de' Medici family—witnessed the event as a member of the archbishop's retinue."

 

Upload: 1 December 2025.