c.1975 Franklin Mint Renaissance Treasures: Mona Lisa GP Sterling Silver Medal (issues)

c.1975 Franklin Mint Treasures of the Renaissance: Mona Lisa Gold-Plated Sterling Silver Medal (issues)

Throughout the late 1970s, the Franklin Mint released the Treasures of the Renaissance silver bullion collection. Sold with a gorgeous collector's cabinet, each drawer held a series of gold-plated, sterling silver medals representing some of the most famous artistic works of the Renaissance, a period of European art and cultural history that roughly overlaps the 15th and 16th centuries.

This gold-plated medallion, which weighs just over one troy ounce, features possibly the most famous painting of the Renaissance (if not all of Western art history), Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Believed to depict Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo, it never made it to her. Leonardo fiddled with the painting for well over a decade, taking it with him everywhere he went and using it to experiment with painting techniques until he died. The result is a startlingly alive portrait, built up in layers upon layers of hazy, razor-thin pigment over a masterful understanding of underlying musculature. It inspired Leonardo's contemporaries and continued to inspire long after. It has been on display at the Louvre since 1797.

Please note, the medallion exhibits some light scratches and fingerprints.