Author: NEPK

   

(Hermann Wittig 1819–1891 (active in Berlin, later Rome), 1876, bronze, struck, 41 mm, NEPK2404)

Diedrich Uhlhorn (1764-1837) from Grevenbroich was a self-made engineer; amongst others he designed textile machines in the service of the Duke of Oldenburg. Being requested by the Düsseldorf Mint to repair its screw press, he offered to design a new machine, faster and more reliable than the screw press. This resulted in the toggle lever press, which he patented in 1817. The introduction of this press completed the mechanisation process of coin making, started in France and England around 1785.  The press featured a flywheel that moved the toggle lever and had a mechanism for introducing the blanks and one for removing the newly struck coins, all driven by the machine itself. Coins were struck “in the ring”. Uhlhorn’s first foreign commission for the machine came from the Utrecht Mint and consisted of four presses (1821). In the 1850-ies the Utrecht Mint ordered another 25 presses, in view of the large minting for the Netherlands East Indies. This proved to be the largest commission in Uhlhorn’s history. Besides over 200 presses by Uhlhorn, more than 300 were made by licensees. For the technical aspects of the Uhlhorn press, see De Beeldenaar-36(2012), 5, p. 196-206 (article in Dutch). See also the entry Uhlhornpress in the Encyclopedie voor Munten en Papiergeld: http://wiki.muntenenpapiergeld.nl/index.php?title=Uhlhornpers

Obverse: Joined portraits of Heinrich and Diedrich Uhlhorn

Text obverse: HEINRICH UHLHORN GEB: 25. NOVEMBER 1805 D: UHLHORN GEB: 3. JUNI 1764 + 5. OCT: 1837

Tekst reverse: DIED. UHLHORN ERFAND 1817 D. MÜNZMASCHINE M. HEBELDRUCK    ZUR VOLLENDUNG DER 200. MÜNZMASCHINE DURCH H. UHLHORN 1876

Note: the NEPK collection received the medal as a donation from a German collector specialising in medals on minting techniques.

   

Since February 28, 2017 the larger of the two interactive medal displays in the Erasmus Gallery presents all medals, designs and sculptural objects that the artist Eric Claus has designed for Erasmus University Rotterdam in the course of many years. His Ad Fontes medal (1976) and Umbra Erasmi medal (1988) are still regularly awarded by EUR every year. Some 90 other medals and 25 sculptural objects by the artist in the NEPK collection have been included in this presentation as well, as are about 40 medals and sculptural objects from a private collection in the Rotterdam area. Extra: in a series of 31 short video clips this unique artist discusses the various design and realisation stages of his major commission “Portrait Gallery Council of State” (The Hague, 2015).

Eric Claus (1936) is one of the most prominent sculptors and medallists in the Netherlands. The sculpture and EUR special award Erasmus in Travel Cap was also designed by Claus. With this touch screen presentation of medals from the EUR collection, the university underlines the long standing relation with the artist, who in 2016 reached the age of eighty.

Location: Erasmus Gallery, Erasmus Building, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam

Visiting times: Monday thru Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

For location map and how to reach us:

https://www.eur.nl/en/campus/locations/campus-woudestein/route-and-directions/