AH Baldwin & Sons Ltd is offering the extensive numismatic collection of Michael Hall, connoisseur and Hollywood actor, with the first auction scheduled for May 2010.
With 2,000 items going to sale, it promises to be the largest sale of Renaissance pieces since the Max and Maurice Rosenheim (Sotheby's 1923) and Henry Oppenheimer (Christie's 1936) collections went under the hammer
The main strength of the collection is medals from early Italy, although Hall's assortment is also very comprehensive in historic artefacts from later Italy, Germany, France and the Holy Roman Empire.
 The Hans Reinhart The Elder (c.1510-1581) Silver Trinity Medal (Moritz-pfennig) |
Most of the examples were purchased from London dealers in the 1960s-70s, where Hall lived after a spell in Hollywood in the 1940s.
Among the star lots is the Hans Reinhart The Elder (c.1510-1581) Silver Trinity Medal (Moritz-pfennig).
Its image depicts God the Father enthroned and wearing the Imperial crown and jewelled cope, his beard and hair applied in the round with twisted silver. Before him is the crucified Christ, surmounted by the Holy Spirit which appears in the form of a dove.
Bearing the legend, PROPTER SCELVS POPVLI MEI PERCVSSI EVM ESAIAE LIII, "For the transgression of my people he was smitten — Isaiah 53", it is one of the most significant medals of the later European Renaissance.
 A cast bronze portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga by Pisano (£65k) |
As we reported in December, a cast bronze portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga by Antonio Pisano (c. 1395-c. 1455), the pioneering artist known simply as "Pisano", is another of the most important pieces in Baldwin's sale.
The 1447 medal features the 21-year-old Gonzaga - Pisano's only female subject - semi-naked within a moonlit landscape on the reverse. It depicts her as the figure of Innocence, taming a Unicorn beside her.
Baldwin's expect the Pisano medal to sell for over £65,000.
Meanwhile, if you're a numismatist with a passion for rare coins from past centuries, here are some more that are currently available on the collectors' market.
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