102971 | UNITED STATES. Vanitas oval bronze Medal.

102971  |  UNITED STATES. Vanitas oval bronze Medal. Issued 1986 (58mm x 71mm, 200.01 g, 12h). By Marika Somogyi for the Society of Medalists.

 

Woman (Pandora–Vanity) seated slightly right with back facing, gazing into cut-out mirror // Satyr (the Devil) crouching slightly left with back facing, peering back into cut-out mirror; tome, compass, and skull (memento mori) below lifted curtain. Edge: SOM–113TH ISSUE APRIL 1986 MARIKA SOMOGYI.

 

Alexander SOM-113. Essentially as made. Light brassy-brown surfaces, with some charming antiquing around the devices. Scarce later-series issue, with a reported mintage of just 750 pieces—many of which exhibit staining from the teal insert that accompanied the packaging.

 

Designed by Marika Somogyi, who immigrated to the United States at the age of 20, this interesting and thought-provoking issue features a woman peering into a "mirror," with the reverse allowing us the chance to see what is on the other side—a mischievous satyr peering back at her. For the brochure which accompanied this issue, she wrote that "...a mirror cries out for a beautiful woman. John Milton in Paradise Lost wrote, 'In naked beauty more adorn'd, more lovely, than Pandora.'" Vanity being one of the seven deadly sins, it can be seen that the woman in this case, by becoming a bit too captivated with her image, has indeed opened Pandora's box and all that may lie within.

 

Upload: 22 October 2024.