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Location: Unknown
Type: Medal
Date: Undated (1800')
Currency: Traveler protection token
Grade: XF/VF
Composition: Gold (.900)
Weight: 2.9 g
Diameter: 18 mm
Thickness: 0.5 mm
Shape: round without its suspension ring
Orientation: Medal alignment ↑↑
Obverse:
St. George on horseback slaying a dragon. A figure kneeling to the right, in front of the horse's hooves.
Lettering: S• GEORGIVS • EQVITVM • PATRONVS•
Translation:
Sanctus Georgius Equitum Patronus.
Patron Saint George (S GEORGIVS PATRONVS)
on his horse (EQVITVM)
Reverse:
One masted ship (galley) sailing in rough sea.
Lettering: IN TEMPESTATE SECURITAS
Translation: Security in the weather.
Edge:
Plain.
Commentaires:
These tokens were used especially by sailors as luck charms against sea accidents. The design copies medallions produced in Kremnitz Hungary from the 1600s to the late 1800s.
At one point in the Bible (Mark 4:36) Jesus and His disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat when a great storm arises. Unmoved, Jesus sleeps in the back of the boat until the men, terrified, wake Him. A few words from Jesus and all is well again, accompanied by the quiet question 'where is your faith, men?' In other words, it is a 'security in the storm' moment. For this medal, IN TEMPESTATE SECURITAS is Latin for 'security in the weather.'
On the other side of the medal is patron saint George (S GEORGIVS PATRONVS) on his horse (EQVITVM) slaying a dragon, a Christian tradition adapted from Eastern Orthodoxy.
Collection : Exonumia