GERMANY. Sachsen, Thüringen und Schlesien (Śląsk), circa 1670-1710. Medal (Silver, 42 mm, 28.76 g, 12 h), so-called 'Federjudenmedaille' mocking lack of self-awareness. By C. Wermuth. ICH TRAGE DIE FEDERN DASS JEDERMANN SCHAUT• / EIN ANDER TRÄGET SIE DER ES NICHT TRAUT• // IE DU FEDER IUDE / NOSCE TEIPSUM Jew wearing a feathered and horned hat, bent to the left and looking into a bag inscribed VI/TIA / ALI/ENA, while carrying a large sack on his back inscribed VITIA - PROP-RIA; below, two hands facing each other, each with the index finger extended. Rev. VON / HANREY NVR NICHT / SCOPTICE, / DANN DIESES IST / VERISSIME, / DASS VIELE DVRCH DIE / CORNUA, / SIND KOMMEN IN / OFFICIA in nine lines. Edge inscription: ES IST EIN DING DAS WOHL BETRACHT EIN IEDER NEHM SEINE FRAU IN ACHT. Antoine-Feill, II, 3438. Fieweger 77. Kirschner 11. Merzbacher, 4 March 1913, 2482. Ophthalmologia XI.128. Stern 222. Wohlfahrt 55090. Very rare, beautifully toned and exceptionally well preserved. Light fingerprints on the reverse and small edge nicks, otherwise, good extremely fine.



The nine-line inscription on the reverse of this very rare medal complements the anti-Jewish imagery of the obverse with a broader note of social satire. The German text may be translated approximately as: ‘One should not mock a cuckold, for it is quite true that many a man has risen to high office by means of his horns.’

The ‘horns’ refer to the traditional emblem of the cuckold, and the cynical punch line suggests that some men owed their social or political advancement to the extramarital affairs of their wives.