Wiener Medal, Cathedral Of Cologne, First Medal

I mentioned cleaned medals. So I am showing one of mine. This is a good example of what could happen to medals in the possession of collectors with idle hands a century ago. Some decided to improve on them and make that copper shine.



This is my most unfortunate cleaned medal. It is still a beautiful medal. The workmanship of Wiener was extraordinary. The level of detail he could put in a 6 cm medal. And the high relief.

Fortunately the collector who cleaned this medal took care to not damage the reliefs. He then applied varnish which still stands up well and preserved the shinny look. I would like a brown patina better. But only the scratches on the obverse are ugly. The pure shinny copper is nice.

The series Wiener and his successors did for the building of the Cologne Cathedral may appear with legend in german, french and perhaps other languages. As it happens with its other architectural medals.
For this cathedral which was still being finished he had a very good idea. Issue several medals showing the progress of the works. I think this is the first one of that series.