BELGIUM. Antwerpen (Antwerp). Uniface Cast Medal (Bronze, 62 mm, 53.28 g, 12 h), on the diplomat, philanthropist, and businesswoman Gracia Nasi (1510-1569). By Pastorino da Siena, but a later aftercast, no date (after 1528). •גרציה•נשיא ('Gracia Nasi' in Hebrew) / •A•Æ•XVIII Draped bust of Gracia Nasi to left. Rev. Incuse of obverse. Armand I, 202. Attwood 591. Dratwa 2. Friedenberg p. 45. Merzbacher, 4 March 1913, 2373. Polak 1. An extremely rare and historically fascinating medal honoring a Jewish Renaissance businesswoman. Minor deposits, otherwise, very fine.



Gracia Nasi, born in Portugal into a Sephardic converso family, became one of the most remarkable Jewish women of the Renaissance. After her husband’s death, she took control of the powerful Mendes banking and trading network, using her wealth and influence to support persecuted Jews and help many escape the Inquisition.

After settling in the Ottoman Empire, where she was finally able to practice Judaism openly, she became an important patron of Jewish religious and cultural life. In Tiberias, in present-day Israel, she financed the rebuilding of the city walls, encouraged Jewish settlement, and supported economic development, making the city a major focus of Jewish renewal in the 16th century.