Nomos 5

England. Charles II. 1660-1685. Medal (Silver, 64mm, 95.89 g 6), the ‘Gigantomachia’ Medal on the Restoration of Charles II, London, by George Bower, 1660. CAROLVS.II.DEI GRATIA.MAG.BR.FRA.ET.HIB.REX Bare-headed bust of Charles II to left, wearing Mantle and Collar with St. George of the Order of the Garter. Rev. Jupiter, riding eagle to left among clouds, hurling thunderbolts at prostrate giants lying all over a desolate landscape; on rock below fallen giant to left, G.Bower.F.. Eimer 213. Medallic Illustrations I, 458, 50. Very rare. An impressive medal, probably Bower’s finest work. Nicely toned. A few minor marks, extremely fine.

Ex Spink NCirc CVII/7, September 1999, 3673.

This is a rather restrained and elegant medal, bearing a particularly fine portrait of Charles II, as well as a curiously somber reverse, littered with the dead bodies of giants who symbolize the King’s enemies (probably the so-called Regicides). The medallist who designed this piece, George Bower, worked in London from 1650 to 1689, and died in 1690: this was his finest medal.