Germany > Brandenburg: Joseph and His Brothers inflationary Jeton ("Josefs-Jeton" - "Joseph und Seine ...

Germany > Brandenburg: Joseph and His Brothers inflationary Jeton ("Josefs-Jeton" - "Joseph und Seine Bruder" Rechenpfennig), 1772; struck in copper; by Johann Christian Reich; 30mm, 6g. Obverse depicts Joseph (without corn-sack) and his brothers (kneeling before him) surmounted by German legend "DIE THEURUNG IM LAND. MACHT IOSEPH BEKANT." (loosely translated as "The Famine in the Land Makes Joseph"), and below on 3 lines: "IOH:CH:REICH.FEC" and "DANTES.FA: 1772.". Coin rotation strike (obverse and reverse inverted to each other); reverse: 14 lines of text starting with "1771" and listing what various food items cost; text ends with year "1772.". The anti-Semitic "Joseph Jeton" medal was struck during a time of high inflation in 1771-1772, and drawing on the Biblical story of Joseph and the 7 year famine in Egypt, Johann Reich here ascribed fault for the famine to Joseph (the Jew) himself. Leonard Forrer mentons Reich's famine era counters (jetons) only in passing, and sums up (vol. 5, p.71) Reich's artistic legacy thus: "One can only confirm Bolzenthal's appreciation of this Medallist's work, that it does not rank very high in artistic merit." In VF-EF (possibly even an UNC piece with poor detail due to a weak strike) - exhibits excellent luster and lovely toning; reverse shows great detail though two spots appear faintly due to weak strike; Brettauer-1936; P.u.R.-154; struck in copper/alloy(!) - not listed with this metal in Brettauer or P.u.R.