Judaica / Zionism - Europe, Medal in Honor of Moses Mendelssohn, 18th-19th Century

Judaica / Zionism - Europe, Medal in Honor of Moses Mendelssohn, 18th-19th Century A striking silver / silvered medal issued in honor of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), one of the most influential Jewish philosophers of the modern era, widely regarded as the father of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah). Mendelssohn played a central role in promoting religious tolerance, civil rights, and the intellectual integration of Jews within European society. Obverse: Finely rendered profile portrait of Moses Mendelssohn facing left. Around the portrait: MOSES MENDELSSOHN. Below the bust: signature of the engraver L. Abraham F. Reverse: At the top appears the inscription: PHAEDON. (the title of Mendelssohn’s celebrated 1767 philosophical work on the immortality of the soul). In the center - a skull resting on a flat surface, with a delicate butterfly perched atop it, symbolizing the transition between life and death and the philosophical idea of the soul’s eternal nature. At the bottom: NATUS MDCCXXIX = Born 1729. Weight: 27.702 g Diameter: 40 mm