Judah Medal
by Elizabeth Weistrop
The
"Twelve Tribes of Israel" series was
designed by
Elizabeth Nealon Weistrop, a sculptor who created a number of Jewish-themed medals
for the Medallic Art Company.
The series was designed and issued in 1969 and 1970. It is a good example of a medal series in which
all medals were designed by the same artist and each medal follows a predictable pattern. In this case,
each medal's obverse bears the artist's vision of one of
Jacob's sons with some decorative elements relating to his particular story
and the reverse bears a Star of David with all twelve names and decorative motifs.
There are actually 13 medals in the series because a boxed collectors' set was made available that
included a bonus medal which showed the other twelve medals' reverse on both sides. That bonus medal could not
be purchased separately, whereas the other twelve medals could be bought independently in the normal Medallic Art Company
cardboard boxes.
Dick Johnson's reference work does not include an identifier number for the bonus medal. For simplicity sake, I
gave it the series identifier 13.
Naphtali Medal
by Elizabeth Weistrop
It is interesting that both release order and series identifiers correspond with neither
the birth order of Jacob's sons nor with the medal order in the collectors' set. I chose to list the medals in birth order rather than in series sequence
because that makes most sense for the series' narrative. I am certainly willing to change that if someone can make
a compelling case for a different order.
The medals were struck in both bronze and silver. While the bronze variants came in an unlimited edition, the
silver medals are numbered and there was an edition limit, which unfortunately I don't know. Please
contact me if you have knowledge of actual
mintages or edition sizes.
Finally, a preemptive apology: Not being terribly knowledgable about the Jewish faith and tradition, I beg forgiveness for any mistakes
or misinterpretations I might have made in documenting the medals. Let me know if I messed something up and I'll
correct it.
Collecting The Twelve Tribes of Israel
The medals are not rare but full sets don't come up often. You can probably acquire the bronzes
(excluding the bonus medal) in a relatively short time. The silvers might take you a bit longer.
While probably predominantly aimed at the Jewish market, the medals are attractive
and appealing to the general audience as well.
Prices vary because the medals tend to arrive in batches and sometimes there's a glut and sometimes there
are none to be had. If you're patient, you should be able to acquire the bronzes on eBay as singles in the $10 to
$25 range. Silvers will typically cost you between $30 and $100. $50 would still be a pretty good deal for a silver
in good shape. As always, outside of eBay, keep in mind that fees and commissions apply in auction
settings and that dealers normally have to make at least a 20-30% profit.
Next Steps
- Take a look at all the medals in the other tabs of this page. There are two tabs that
lead to pictures: Medals and Visual. The Medals
tab leads to a paged list (by default groups of 10) that shows both sides and provides access to documentation and
details. The Visual tab leads to a grid of obverse medal images. From there you can easily identify a
medal visually and then click through to the detail information.
- Contact me if you are interested in buying or selling medals or want to help me improve the site.
I am always interested in buying to complete or improve my
own collection. At this point, I have all the silvers but I might be interested in adding the bronze
variants to my collection.
As a rule, if I don't have a picture for a medal, I probably don't own the medal and I would be interested in buying it.
- Check out the links in the Resources tab.
- Support this site with a small donation if you appreciate it as a resource and want to help me with hosting and bandwidth costs.
