2017-10-13 Fri

Some people are just made to rule and sit on it, one of them was Emperor Franz Joseph I, who had been on the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 60 years. To commemorate the occasion, the Austrian Vienna Mint struck 16,000 gold 100 kronen denomination coins in both regular and Proof strikes. It magnificently depicts a wonderful right profile portrait of the emperor on the obverse, but what is especially noteworthy about the issue is the absolutely amazing artwork on the reverse.

This coin consists of over one Troy ounce (33.8753 grams) of .900 fine gold and has a diameter of 37 millimeters. Surrounding the portrait of Franz Joseph I, and rendered in an ornamental font reminiscent of Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession movement, is the abbreviated Latin inscription FRANC•IOS•I•D•G•R•IMP•AUSTR•REX BO•GAL•ILL•ETC•ET AP•REX•HUNG•, which stands for “Franz Joseph I by the Grace of God Emperor of Austria King of Bohemia, Galicia, Illyria, etc and King of Hungary”.

The reverse features the dates 1848 and 1908, the bookends of Franz Joseph’s reign. On the right side, the denomination is abbreviated as 100 COR. The personification of Fame, facing to the left, is dressed in classical garb as she reclines on a cloud. She has a laurel wreath in her right hand and has her left arm rested on a shield, featuring the double-headed eagle of the coat of arms of Austria-Hungary. The Gorny and Mosch specimen showcases some die doubling around the lady’s face. She is backlit by the rays of the sun. In the clouds is the Latin inscription DUODECIM LUSTRIS GLORIOSE PERACTIS, which translates to “Twelve glorious seasons (lustrae, or periods of five years) passed”. A ring of minuscule dots or beads encircles the design on each side.

Born in 1830, Franz Joseph I became Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary at the age of 18 in 1848. His time in power witnessed much of the history that shaped what we now consider the Modern Industrial World, from the U.S. Civil War to the Age of Imperialism. Franz Joseph died in 1916, in the midst of the First World War.

Right from an early age, he was trained and therefore, he was considered for the throne. He became an officer in the Austrian military at the age of 13. The Empire’s military elite chose him to be a ruler rather than his uncle Ferdinand, the current emperor, or Franz Joseph’s father Franz Karl, he ascended to the throne upon his uncle’s “resignation”.

Just like many established rulers, he too faced many challenges, from sources both foreign and domestic. Over the course of the 19th century, Franz Joseph maintained himself and Austria as respected figures on the world stage, even if his policies were not always successful.

In the year, 1914, his assumptive heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo, which led to the outbreak of World War I as the gathering of alliances swiftly drew all the major powers of Europe into conflict against each other. When Franz Joseph was 86 years old, he couldn’t do much but watch as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was torn apart. He died two years later. Rudolf Marschall made his death mask.

Renowned sculptor Rudolf Ferdinand Marschall was the royal medalist to the court of Austria. He was born in Vienna in 1873 and was a precociously talented son of an engraver. He acquired a lot of knowledge from his father and attended the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, winning several awards while still a student. But destiny favored him as after graduation, he earned the title of a major player in the Vienna art scene and found his métier in portraiture on plaques and medallions.

One such medallion, and one which gained him much fame around the world was a medallic portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph I produced in 1900 to celebrate the emperor’s 70th birthday. It bore the same highly detailed, true-to-life right-profile portrait as the 1908 gold 100 corona.

The 1900 Franz Joseph medal then won him many international commissions, including several from the United States and the American Numismatic Society (ANS) in particular.