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Bronze Medieval 16th-17th Century Christian Medallion -- Questions

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Jericho:
I know this doesn't classify as ancient, but I just bought this Christian medallion from Medieval Spain, 16th-17th Century A.D.  It's the first such item I've bought and I know nothing of it's background or it's scarcity or lack thereof.  I wonder if anybody might know who's image is on what I'll call the obverse of this small medallion... he looks left at a likeness of Christ on the Cross.  Not a Christian, I'm not sure who this is!  Also, I wonder what the letters S CAR might represent? 

Does anybody here collect these?  Are there any good sites or books you might point me to that could shed some light on these?  Thanks.

Manzikert:
Hi

I think the figure on the obverse is probably Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), with the S. CAR standing for SAN CARLOS, 'Saint Charles' in Spanish.

One of the main incidents of his life was praying, with a rope noose round his neck, for the relief of Milan from an attack of the plague, and there seems to be a rope round the neck of the figure on the obverse and the reverse is surrounded by a rope border with 'noose' type knots in it

See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03619a.htm for biographical details, and http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/stc10007.jpg for a picture, which if reversed, looks rather like the obverse of the medallion.

Best wishes

Alan

Jericho:
Alan thank you so much for the information!  Your educated guess seems to make perfect sense and I'm very pleased to know more about this item now.  I must admit I'm torn whether to keep this or put it up for sale...

I hadn't realized I had a response here as my reply notification emails have again got labeled as spam by my email server.   ::)

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