"The World of Nature" by Margaret C. Ellison

The World of Nature 1984
by Margaret C. Ellison
SOM-110.1
Golden bronze with tan patina

This design by Ellison was chosen as the 110th issue of the prestigious Society of Medalists series.

Its obverse bears interlaced bands with a wide variety of animals (including bird, lion with crown, sharks, snake, duck, chicken, seahorse, dolphin, bat, scorpion, etc.), plants, microorganisms, man and woman, and the equation E = mc2. Under rat, signed MCE.

The reverse consists of a center section of sun and planetary symbols surrounded by band with names of months, surrounded by twelve sections with the images of the zodiac, labeled on an outer ring; braided border.

Margaret Ellison created a medal that celebrated creation, much like Fiat Vita by de Francisci did almost 50 years earlier. Where de Francisci went from the theological to the scientific on his medal, Ellison went from the scientific to the mystical. As she wrote in the brochure that accompanied the medal:

"However disparate, all things of earth—bird, beast and fish—animal, vegetable and mineral—the living and the non-living—are bound together by nature's laws, known or unknown."

The medal measures 73mm in diameter and was produced by the Medallic Art Company of Danbury, Connecticut. Its reported mintage is 750 pieces in bronze.

SOM-110.1
Bronze
73.0mm (2.87in)
Golden bronze with tan patina
THE SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS, 110TH ISSUE NOV. 1984 - MARGARET C. ELLISON
(C) 1984 MEDALLIC ART CO., DANBURY, CT.-BRONZE
SOM-110.2
Bronze
73.0mm (2.87in)
Red-gold bronze with reddish tan patina
THE SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS, 110TH ISSUE NOV. 1984 - MARGARET C. ELLISON
(C) 1984 MEDALLIC ART CO., DANBURY, CT.-BRONZE