Select Medallic Art of Alex Shagin

“… a skillful sculptor and had earned an honest living …”

– The Adventure of The Six Napoleons (SIXN)

Alex Shagin, now a freelance medallic artist based in southern California, cast medals featuring Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle in the early 1990s. Let’s take a look at some other of his medallic works.

A 78mm bronze casting of the English writer George Orwell. Limited to only 84 pieces and cast in 1984.

A free-standing 106 x 85 mm cast bronze medal with a curved surface honoring the second Presidential inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1985. Shagin is known for casting medals that are also free-standing, such as this piece.

This 1985 cast silver medal features Maimonides, a medieval Spanish-Egyptian philosopher and Jewish theologian. This 75 x 79 mm medal was issued for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem.

This 1986 bronze 73 mm medal was struck for the Society of Medalists, and is the 114th medal in the long-running series of medals they produced and has the theme of “One Earth.”

This 60 mm silver medal was struck for the Statue of Liberty Centennial in 1986.

Shagin would apply the patina by hand on this 7 inch uniface medal of Auguste Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty.

And a more “commercial” design for this silver round, also produced for the Statue of Liberty centennial in 1986.

Shagin cast this bronze medal for the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution in 1987 and it measures 55 x 73 mm.

     

Shagin also produced this 64m bronze medal for the 1987 celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor and Nobel Laureate, is featured on this cast sterling silver medal that measures 66 x 69 mm from 1987.

In 1987, the American Numismatic Association hosted the FIDEM International Medallic Exhibition at it’s Colorado Springs headquarters. Cast in silver, this medal measures 72×73 mm.

     

This 76mm bronze medal was struck in 1988 for the Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina and is called “The Sculptor and the Garden.”

This 1991 cast bronze medal features David Schwarz, a Jewish aircraft developer and inventor of the first rigid airship, and is 71mm.

This silver round commemorates the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Shagin has had a prolific portfolio of work and this post barely scratches the topic.