102454 | SWEDEN. Alfred Nobel silver Medal.

102454  |  SWEDEN. Alfred Nobel silver Medal. Issued 1926. Commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death (45mm, 45.72 g, 12h). By E. Lindberg for the Swedish Academy of Sciences.

 

ALFRED NOBEL, bust left in frock coat // Pallas-Athena standing left, spearing tri-headed serpentine Hydra to left; in three lines in exergue, MALA • CORPORIS • ANIMIQVE / SCIENTIA / VINCET (may knowledge conquer the maladies of both mind and body). Edge: SILVER 1926.

 

Ehrensvärd 268. Mint State. Light graphite gray hues, with a tremendous matte nature to the surfaces. A very rare and desirable issue paralleling the Nobel nominating committee medals, which were also done by Erik Lindberg. From a mintage of just 150 examples.

 

Known for inventing dynamite and bequeathing his fortune in order to fund what would become the Nobel Prizes, Alfred Nobel was a prolific inventor who held over 350 patents. In 1864, he founded the Nitroglycerin Aktiebolaget (Nitroglycerin Corporation), the world's first manufacturer of nitroglycerin (which was vital in his patenting of dynamite a few years later).

 

As for the artist of this medal, Erik Lindberg was tasked early on with the creation of the Nobel Prize medals in 1901—the Nobel institution for the awarding of these prizes having been newly established. Outside of the Peace Prize (presented instead in Oslo) and the Economics Prize (created much later by the Sveriges Riksbank and not considered part of the Nobel canon), Lindberg's renditions continue to be used for the prize medals to this day, as well as the medals presented to the respective nominating committees. This medal, with its very small mintage of just 150 examples, comes in a larger format of 45mm (rather than 26mm for the nominating committee medals, which continue to be made and awarded). The bust style is also slightly modified from that of the nominating committee medals, and it features a reverse with the same Neoclassical flair as the Nobel Prize medals themselves.

 

Upload: 15 June 2023.

 

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