I recently added this
medal to my British coins
Gallery.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4762While not a
Roman coin, or even an ancient coin, it does have a connection to
Rome: It was minted there.
For about 60 years after
King James II was forced to leave
England (1688),
His supporters - known as Jacobites - worked to restore him and
his Roman Catholic descendants to the British throne. From their court of exile in
France and later in
Italy, the Stuarts sometimes commissioned people to design and strike medals. These were for propaganda purposes, and to give to their supporters & sympathizers. The two children on this
medal are grandsons of
King James II. Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788) is better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie who landed in Scotland in 1745 and tried (unsuccessfully) to reclaim the throne.
His younger brother,
Henry Benedict Stuart (1725-1807,
had a career in the
Roman Catholic
Church, eventually becoming a Cardinal.
Description:Legitimacy of Jacobite Succession, ca 1737-40. Bronze
Medal attributed to Ermenegildo Hamerani.
Obverse: HVNC SALTEM EVERSO IVVENEM [svccvrrere sæclo] /
Bust of Charles Edward Stuart as an adolescent (about age 16 or 17), in armor and wearing ermine mantle.
Wolf & Twins on
bust truncation.
Reverse: TRIPLICIS
SPES TERTIA GENTIS /
Bust of
Henry Benedict Stuart as a child (about age 11 or 12), in armor.
44.80 gm., 45 mm.
MI ii 493/35;
Eimer 544A;
Woolf 47:1.
Translations: Obverse: A quote from Virgil, of which only the first 4 words appear on the
medal: HVNC SALTEM EVERSO IVVENEM which translates as “At Least Permit This
Youth . . . “ But Virgil continues with the words “svccvrrere sæclo” which are not on the
medal. The meaning of the entire quote is usually given as “At least permit this
youth to repair the ruins of the age.”
Reverse: The Third
Hope of a Triple Nation. (
James II was dead at this time, but the boy's father
James Francis Stuart was
still alive and the claimant to the throne. So
Henry was the 3rd in line - the "Third
Hope." The "Triple Nation" refers to
England, Scotland, & Wales (or perhaps at this time
England, Scotland &
Ireland.))
The
Wolf & Twins on the truncation of the
obverse bust indicate this
medal was struck in
Rome. (See second photo below.)