Award medal

The Stettin Horticultural Society (Stettiner Gartenbau-Verein), founded in 1852, dealt with the popularisation of gardening and broadly conceived activities in fruit-growing, vegetable growing and the care of ornamental plants. It was planned to organise a general gardening exhibition in Szczecin for the 25th anniversary of its existence (1887). However, such an event did not take place. The presented medal does not contain clear elements connected with gardening activities. If not for the society's name on the obverse, it could represent other areas of life. Iconographically, it combines an epigraphic type with a coat of arms. The medal is interesting from the perspective of municipal heraldry, as it features the coat of arms of Szczecin from 1660. In that year, King Charles XI of Sweden granted the city a new coat of arms to commemorate its defence against the Brandenburg army. A crown appeared above the shield with a griffin's head, and two crowned lions appeared as keepers. In the 1830s, the Prussian government, after an attempt to introduce a new Szczecin sign (a Prussian eagle sitting on a shield with a griffin's head), restored the city's coat of arms from 1660. It remained in force until 1915, when the coat of arms was abandoned, and, despite the changes in nationality, the crowned head of the griffin remains the main symbol of Szczecin. The medal was minted at the well-known Berlin medal-making manufacture of Gottfried Loos (1173-1843), which signed its products with the first owner's name. The engraving on the reverse side shows the date - 4 June 1888, which refers to the time when the medal was presented to a distinguished person.

Genowefa Horoszko