Tani Guerin

Thank you so much for such useful links. Several years ago I found a 3/4 piece of an Elizabethan bellarmine jar medallion while beachcombing. I was having difficulty identifying it, and my last port of call was a senior curator at The Museum of London, via email. She knew exactly what it was and sent a detailed reply. I have always remembered her for taking such time to help me. I had not thought of the British Museum, so I have written to them first thing this morning and if their reply leads to tracing the medal to its home I'll be happy to share the results here. I have been looking around this forum and it is very well-behaved, informative and friendly compared to many other interest-based ones. I only wish I could join in more in future, but my home is like a sanctuary for found things that are so worn and broken that no one else would want them. I just love looking at them and wondering about where they came from. I've no interest in valuable ceramics, but am intrigued by old pottery fragments uncovered at old bottle dumps on beaches. And it's been wonderful to be able to identify some of my sea-battered coins through looking at members' websites. Once again, many thanks for your generous help Tani

I'm very much hoping you can help me, but as I'm not sure if I'm on the right forum for such an inquiry I won't go into too many details, or send photos as yet. I've been doing some research for a friend who inherited a much-loved gold medallion from his grandfather who died as a POW in the Far East. I found out that it's a St Benedict medal of some kind. The back is almost typical, but the front isn't the same as all the other medals I've seen so far. It's more like a coin and has a well-crafted and expressive head on it, with three Latin words surrounding it. I can roughly translate all the words, back and front, but I'm now completely lost. It don't know where to go to find out more. I'd love to know where and when it was made and a bit more about it. My friend thinks it may have come from Malta originally, which is obviously a bit out of this forum's geographical area, but I'm hoping that someone will know which step I should take next and would be most grateful for any help. I have plenty of time to devote to research if only I can be shown a signpost Regards, Tani

Of course! I just didn't want to send any until invited to as I wasn't sure if I had come to the right place, but I'm only too happy to send photos and further details if it will help. I'm afraid I don't have dimensions and the owner is suffering complications after surgery right now so I can't ask him what the medal's diameter is. However, he had previously sent these photos: Here's what I learned about the back: Of the VRS:NSMV:SMQL:IVB around the edges. No one knew what they meant until a manuscript dating back to 1415 was found at Metten Abbey in Bavaria in 1647, and the letters were found to correspond to the Vade retro satana (Step back Satan) phrase.This is a Medieval Catholic formula for exorcism, and its origin is traditionally associated with the Benedictines. The initials of this formula have often been engraved around crucifixes or Catholic Saint Benedict Medals at least since 1780. On the Maltese cross are the letters C S S M L - N D S M D, initials of the words "Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Nunquam draco sit mihi dux!" (May the holy cross be my light! May the dragon never be my overlord!). In the angles of the cross, the letters C S P B stand for Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (The cross of our holy father Benedict). Most St Benedict medals I've seen on this search so far have crosses that don't reach the rim, as this one does, and also, the word 'Pax' is missing from the top of this one. And of the front of the medal: S.BENEDICTVS is obvious enough, PUER means 'boy', and I'm not sure about SVBLACENCIS, but think it's an old word for a region in Italy that is now known as Subiaco. Benedict is said to have been a hermit in a grotto there for a while. He then went on to build twelve monasteries in the hills of Subiaco. So I'm wondering if the inscription means 'As a boy Benedict was in Subiaco' or something of that kind? I don't know a thing about Latin grammar. On most St Benedict medals the front has a full sized image of St Benedict standing, holding a cross and a holy rule, and there should be other things on it like a poisoned cup and a raven about to fly away with some poisoned bread. And usually,around the image of St. Benedict, are these words in Latin: Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur – "May his presence protect us in the hour of our death." Instead, this one has a rather good portrait of a young man in a monk's cowl. St Benedict as a 'boy'perhaps? I'm very much in the dark here. My friend's grandfather might have obtained the medal in Malta, but it could have come from anywhere. No one in the family seems to know, because, sadly, he died of typhoid in a camp while waiting for repatriation, having survived working on the Burma railway. Because it's so very round, the head is offset and partly touching the rim, and looking at the style of the portrait, I would have thought it was made somewhere between the end of the 19th century and WWII, but I'll say no more because I'm just making uneducated guesses based on comparison with other coins and medals seen on the net while searching. Another thing that interests me is how the letter 'L' has been fitted partially under the 'A' of SVBLACENSIS, so that the word would fit into the space available for it. I'm wondering if that was often done as I've not seen that on a coin or medal before. I would be so grateful for any help towards discovering its date and origins. Tani