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Vintage Gemini Zodiac Medallion by Paul Vincze

Vintage Gemini Zodiac Medallion by Paul Vincze

$2,350.00

Description

DATE: Vintage, 1967

Gemini is the third sign in the zodiac (May 20th - June 21st), represented by the twin half-brothers Castor and Pollux. They were known to the ancient Babylonians as the Great Twins Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea ("The Mighty King" and "The One who has arisen from the Underworld", respectively). And to the ancient Greeks as the Dioscuri. The pair are an example of heteropaternal superfecundation: Castor was the mortal son of Spartan king Tyndareus, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus, who seduced the king's wife Leda while disguised as a swan. There various different stories regarding their birth, the most unusual being that they hatched from an egg along with their twin sisters Clytemnestra and Helen (of Troy). The two were exceptional hunters and horsemen, participating in the hunt of the Calydonian Boar, and later joining the crew of Jason's ship as Argonauts.

The three remaining columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux - originally built in gratitude for victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus, 495 BC - were probably the highlight of the Roman forum, for me. The Temple served as a meeting place for the Roman Senate during the Republican period, with the podium used as a speaker's platform. Based on finds unearthed from one of the drains, at some stage in its history (presumably after its use by the Senate) one of the chambers was used as a dentist's surgery.

This exceptional gold medallion was created by artist, sculptor, and internationally acclaimed medallist Paul Vincze in the 1960s. Vincze was born in August 1907 in Hungary, studying at the State School of Arts and Crafts in Budapest and later under medallist Ede Telcs, who he described as “the greatest medallist of this generation”. He moved to London in the late 1930s, where he set up a studio, and went on to exhibit in many European capitals cities including Paris, Rome, Budapest, and London – winning awards at the 1951 International Exhibition, Madrid, the 1964 Paris Salon, and the first gold medal of the American Numismatic Association. This example is larger scale at 3.2cm diameter, and renders the twins in Vincze’s trademark classical style – Castor and Pollux gazing up at the twin stars of their own constellation in the night sky.

MEASUREMENTS 

3.2cm diameter

WEIGHT 

12.2g

MARKS 

Signed P Vincze London

English hallmarks for 9k gold, London 1967

CONDITION 

Very good, with light patina

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