Award medal|Honorary award

In the second half of the 19th century, many Pomeranian towns organised economic exhibitions. The scale of these undertakings depended on the wealth of the town, accumulated funds and generosity of patrons. The exposition in Kamień Pomorski was organised in 1877 on the initiative of the local Craftsmen Society. A lasting memento of that event is the presented medal of honour, minted in a Berlin medal workshop of Gottfried Loss (1773-1843), marking his products with the first owner's name Iconographically, the medal from Kamień Pomorski is a copy of compositions on medals from earlier exhibitions: craftsmanship exhibition in Berlin (1844) and agricultural and industrial exhibition in Poznań (1872). On the obverse, in an oak wreath, there are five shields with symbols of crafts: carpentry, machine industry, bee-keeping and trade, weaving and saddlery. The creator of this iconographic element was the medallist Emil Schilling (active between 1844-1865). On the reverse, the personification of craftsmanship, the standing Industria, has been surrounded by tools and craft products. The so-called section, a part of the medal cut off by a horizontal line, depicts an allegory of the spheres of human life: a winged putto refers to the sky, an eagle to the air, a lion to the earth, a dolphin to the sea. The rich iconographic layer is accompanied by the slogan ARBEIT IST BÜRGERS ZIERDE - SEGEN IST DER MEHE PREIS (work is a citizen's honour - the reward is a blessing), emphasising the importance of work in the development of society, as a task given and blessed by God. The inscription comes from Friedrich Schiller's poem "Song of the Bell" (1799).

Genowefa Horoszko