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This medal was chosen as the 52nd issue of the prestigious Society of Medalists series in 1955. The obverse bears head of Danish writer ad story teller facing left. Around, HANS . CHRISTIAN . ANDERSEN; below, 1805 (flower) 1955; below truncation; GEORG LOBER / ©.
The reverse bears swan swimming right. Around, ONE . HUNDRED . AND . FIFTIETH . ANNIVERSARY; below water, G L / (flower) / ©.
This is the first SOM medal that stepped away from philosophical or abstract themes to commemorate specific events or individuals. George Dupont Pratt, one of the SOM founders, had tried to set the Society apart from common practices by discouraging commemorative designs but Lober picked a figure that was different from the usual honorees. As one commenter wrote:
"While I am not partial to commemorative medals, I like this one... It is a pleasant change to have a medal commemorating the simple things in life rather than heroism, statesmanship or political achievement."
This medal was struck by the Medallic Art Company of New York. The reported production quantity of this medal is 681 in bronze.
Variants
This medal comes in a number of known variants. Below you can find the ones that are known to me. Please let me know if you have one that is not listed here. You can see images of the variants I have by dragging the medal image above to the left (or right).