The sun., 1908-01-12
TEE VALtE AND INTEREST or
MEDALLIC ART.
An Account Of the Collection Of Metals and
PIaauettes In the Metropolitan.

An Account Of the Collection Of Medals and
I PIaqueitcs In the metropolitan.
Discussion over the Saint Gaudens coins
lninted by the United States Govern ment
seems 70 have awakened an interest in
Enedallic art. to judge from the greater
number Of persons who now stop to study
seriously the medals displayed in the cases
that run along the side OF Gallery 2S in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Up 70 the
present time the people who find leisure
for visiting the museum Sunday afternoons
have hurried past this exhibit at such
pace tire attendants named it the "SkiddOo
Gallery" However. now that their atten-
tion has been drawn to the truly interesting
collection by reason OF the incident OF the
Saint Gaudens design mentioned. inquiring
minds are trying 10 find out for themselves
something about such matters, just as in
terest in general "a increasing in the depart
ment OF m etal work Of which John II. Buck.
the eminent authority on such matters, is
curator.
In the first place medallic art. more than
any other perhaps. nearly always displays
prominent national characteristics. so It is
comparatively easy to distinguish between
the medals Of various countries.
The debt history owes coins and medals
for the clues TO the past they have given
II is enormous. Cities and sites have been
identified by their means dates Of dynasties
made certain by their evidence and for
gotten deeds Of heroes recalled through
their records. A few months ago Sicilian
peasant discovered the only specimen ex
tant OF a rare coin Of antiquity that adds
40, IaIe Of khn al Nf
Abacenum. whose ruins lie outside the
walls OF Tripi. This coin, OF inestimable
value. has been acquired by France for the
museum Of the Louvre, much to the dis
comiture Of the Italian nation, which hesi-
tated when it was offered and then lost to
itself this treasure for all time. Eventually
an eleCtrotype fac-simile will find its way
into the collection Of our museum here as
a specimen of this sort is an excellent ex-
ample Of missing historical link"
As Vasari observed the art of the medal
list ia "a work most difficult by artists as
IL holds the mean between painting and
sculpture That it does truly. Soon the
Metropolitan Museum is to have a splendid
collection Of electrotype reproductions Of
early English medals and of Italian medals
an addition to the collection which will
be OF immense service 10 the student OF art
and history, since at present it is woefully
deficient in these and in other early exam
Piles Of medalhc art. At the end OF the
fifteenth century the making OF dies as it
was then practised permitted only designs
for very low relief to be struck and of small
circumference. such a size as we see in the
coins OF that time. Coins like the new
United States double eagle designed by Saint
Gaudens could not then have been at
tempted. Stamping from the die was proc
ess yet in its infancy and wholly unsuited
20 the requirements of striking the larger
medal forms. hence these were invariably
cast. First a model in wax was made and
embedded in some fine moulding substance,
such as earth or charcoal. and so fine as to
be practically impalpable. Having fitted
itself perfectly into every crevice Of the wax