Frederick the Great box

[admin]

Hi,
From the information on it, this screw top box was based on a 1759 medallion of Frederick the Great by I.M. Morikhofer & made by Jacques Langenbucher of Augsburg. All else is a mystery and it has the smallest touchmark I've ever come across. Hope some light can be shed on it.
Thanks, Tom


.

[wev]

Is it about 1 1/2" in diameter?
.

[admin]

sorry, should have mentioned - 2 inches
.

[wev]

A little larger than I remember. This is the container for a form of miniature book popular from the mid 18th century on. It is missing its text/illustration pages. Here is a modern version (from the Columbia Worlds Fair) to get the idea:



The tipped in piece on the back is a list of the illustrations included. I think this same piece is illustrated in Bromer's Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures.[/img]
.

[admin]

wev,
Thanks, I'd never have guessed. With your info I was able to find a different medallion book, also by Langenbucher on the Dorotheum site.
Apparently the silversmith, Jacob Langenbucher (?-1791), liked things small, in 1780 he designed an improved smaller version of Allesandro Volta's hydrogen electric lighter. You can view diagrams of it in this pdf file.
http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/histodid/pr ... ognana.pdf

regards, Tom
.

[Doos]

Hi,

The german text indicates that it is a birth medaillon for Carl Christian Mosser(?), born 20th April 1769 at 1AM.
The booklet seems to list military abbrevations.
.

[Bahner]

Hello, roughly transcribed this reads

„1769 des Jahres 20. April nachts zwischen 12 und 1 Uhr wurde in Stuttgart geboren Carl Christian Mosser. Seine Gevatterin Geheime Frau Anna Magdalena Schellnegger Wittib geborene Frisken in Ulm Württemberg und Schwaben“.

„The night of April 20ieth in the year 1769, between midnight and 1 a.m., in Stuttgart was born C.C. Mosser. His godmother is A. M. Schnellnegger, born as A.M. Frisken in Ulm, Wurttemeberg and Suavia, widow of privy council Schellnegger”.

In view of the fact that the writer /engraver made several mistakes, he either was no native German speaker, could not write German at all, or this was made later than the date suggests. Which latter case could also explain the strange hallmark. The engraving on the back shows abbreviations, concerning not the military career of said Mosser, but possibly what has to do with a short history of the third Silesian war of Frederic II., especially the successful battle at Zorndorf in said year 1759.

Langenbucher is mentioned here as a “tourneur”, a wholesaler, not as a silversmith, so he is probably not the original maker. Best wishes, Bahner
.