Samuel P. Avery (1822–1904): Commemorating His Seventy-Fifth Birthday 1897

This commemorative medal was made by Anton Scharff to celebrate Samuel P. Avery's 75th birthday. It's a small object, made of struck silver, but it speaks volumes about how people wish to be remembered. Medals like these were made using a reduction engine: a scaled-up plaster model was carved, then translated to a smaller size mechanically. The crispness of the relief, with its classical imagery on one side and portrait of Avery on the other, is a testament to the skill of the die cutter and the precision of the machinery involved. The very material of the medal—precious metal— speaks to Avery’s status, but so does the iconography. He is figured as a man of taste, surrounded by sculpture and books. The inscription "Artis stidioso amici" suggests the circle he inhabited. Ultimately, this medal shows us that the value of an artwork lies not only in its aesthetic qualities, but also in its social context and the labor involved in its creation.