Lot 89

AN ALEXANDER I GOLD MEDAL

A rare gold medal of Russian Tsar Alexander I based on a design by Ivan Shilov. This is a very good example of Russian medal work in the early 19th century. Obverse: bust of Tsar Alexander I in profile; inscription in Cyrillic on the right

“Alexander I Emperor of Russia”, 1810. Reverse: inscription “for diligent service”. Smooth edges. From the assessment by PhDr. Jiří Militký, PhD: “Medals ‘for diligent service’ with this combination of coin dies are rare, and extremely rare as gold specimens. It certainly is no accident that it was impossible to find the same gold specimen in realized auction sales in Western Europe and the United States; this is a clear indication of the absolutely exceptional rareness of this medal.”