MARTIN (or MARTYN), SIR RICHARD (Brit.). (1534-1617). The following exhaustive account of Martin's life was contributed by Mr. Warwick Wroth, to the Dictionary of National Biography (Vol. XXXVI). "Master of the Mint and Lord Mayor of London was born in 1534. He adopted the business of a Goldsmith, and in 1594 is mentioned as one of the goldsmiths to Queen Elizabeth (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1591-4, p. 559; 1603-10, p. 574). In 1559- 60 he was appointed Warden of the Mint, and held this office till 1594-5, and perhaps later. In 1580-1 he was appointed Master of the Mint, and appears to have held this office till his death in 1617 (ib. 1611-18, p. 489; cf. ib. 1603-10, p. 566). In September 1597 he petitioned the Queen for sixteen pence on every pound weight of silver coined, on account of his losses in connection with the mint. He declared that he had done good service in apprehending counterfeiters of the coin, and that the money made in nis time was richer by 30.000 l. at the least than the like quantity made by any former Mint-master, ' by reason of his care to keep the just standard ' (ib. 1595-7, p. 506). A manuscript tract by Martin, entitled ' A brief Note of those Things which are to be done by the Warden of the Mint ', is in the Brit. Mus. (Harl. MS. No. 698, fol. 13), and some extracts from it are given in Ruding's ' Annals of the Coinage ', I, 71. About 1600 Martin made an offer to improve the coinage of Ireland, and to make ' small copper moneys ' for currency in England (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598-1601, pp. 516, 517). In May (?) 1601 he issued the report of himself and eleven other commissioners appointed by the Queen ' to inquire concerning the preservation and augmentation of the wealth of the realm ' (ib. 1601-3, pp. 47, 48). On 11 Sept. 1610 Martin received a warrant from James I. for the repayment of 410 l. still due to him as warden of the mint under Elizabeth (ib. 1603-10, p. 632; cf. Nichols, Progresses of James I., II, 411). “Martin was elected Alderman of the city of London on 29. May 1578, and was sheriff in 1581. He was Lord Mayor for the remainder of the year, on the death of Sir Martin Calthorpe, on 5. May 1589, and again on the decease of Sir Cuthbert Buckle, on 1. July 1594. He was a strenuous supporter of the city's rights. On 31. August 1602 he was removed from his aldermanship, the reasons assigned being his poverty and imprisonment for debt, and his refusal to surrender his office after having accepted one thousand marks as a condition of his retirement (Remembrancia, 1579-1664,20. Dec. 1602). “Martin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth some time between 1562 and 1594... He died in July, 1617, and was buried in the south chancel of Tottenham Church... One of his five sons, named Richard († 1616) was citizen and goldsmith of London, and was from about 1584 associated for several years with his father in the mastership of the mint. “A fine silver medal (obv. illustrated) in the British Museum, cast and chased by Stephen of Holland in 1562, and believed to be unique, bears the portraits of Martin and his wife (Vide Vol. II. P. 531)". Under Martin in 1582-3, the old standard and weight of the gold coins, which had been slightly debased by Louison, his predecessor, was restored, but in 1601, the weight of the money both of gold and silver was somewhat reduced. The curious and unique Pattern Halfcrown of Queen Elizabeth reproduced here, which was originally in the cabinet of the Earl of Oxford and is now in the National Collection, was supposed to have been engraved at the Royal Mint, in the last year of the Queen's reign, under the Mint-master, Sir Richard Martin. Horace Walpole " Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors ", 1st ed., I, 126, describing a fragment of one of the gold coins of this Queen, says : " Vertue, the engraver, had a pocket book of Isaac Oliver, in which the latter had made a memorandum that the queen would not let him give any shade to her features, telling him,' that shade was an accident, and not naturally existing in the face'. Her portraits are generally without shadow. I have in my possession another strongly presumptive proof of this weakness ; it is a fragment of one of her last broad pieces, representing her horridly old and deformed. An entire coin with this image is not known ; it is universally supposed that the die was broken by her command, and that some workman in the mint cut out this morsel which contains barely the face. As it has never been engraved, so singular a curiosity may have its merit in a work which has no other kind of merit. " The fragment referred to was purchased by the British Museum at the Strawberry Hill Sale, 1842, and is engraved in Ruding, Suppl. part ii PI. III, N° 7. The pattern Halfcrown shows no doubt a similar portrait of the Queen *. Bibliography. — W. Wroth, Richard Martyn, Dict. Nat. Biog. XXXVI. — Ruding, op. cit. — Hawkins's Medallic Illustrations, &c , ed. Franks and Grueber, * Both the Halfcrown and the gold piece are now believed to be early nineteenth century concoctions. I, 107, 108. — Calendars of State Papers. — Overall's Remembrancia. — Robinson's, Tottenbam. — Grueber, Handbook, &c. — Kenyon, op. cit. — Chaffers, Gilda Aurifabrorum, p. 51. — Pinkerton, Medallic Hist., Pl. x, 1. — Guide to English Medals, Pl. I, 35. — R. Whitbourn, On an Unique and Unpublished Pattern for a Half-crown of the last year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Archaeologia, II, 169.
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
Mint master:
In medieval and early modern Germany, the Münzmeister ("mint master", the Latin term is monetarius) was the director or administrator of a mint, a moneyer with responsibility for the minting of coins, or specie. His duties were defined differently at different locations and ages.
MAILLARD, AUGUSTE
MAILLARD, AUGUSTE (French). Contemporary Sculptor and Medallist, born in 1866 and residing at Paris ; pupil of Dalou, Gaudez, and Falgui?re. He has obtained the following awards : Salon of 1894, Medal of the Third Class (for a bronze statue, La Défense du Sol) ; Salon of 1898, Medal of the Second Class (for a marble statue, acquired by the French government, The Fall of Icarus); Universal Exhibition of 1900, Medal of the Third Class. He is an officer of Public Instruction. Amongst his best known...
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MAILLARD, AUGUSTE (French). Contemporary Sculptor and Medallist, born in 1866 and residing at Paris ; pupil of Dalou, Gaudez, and Falgui?re. He has obtained the following awards : Salon of 1894, Medal of the Third Class (for a bronze statue, La Défense du Sol) ; Salon of 1898, Medal of the Second Class (for a marble statue, acquired by the French government, The Fall of Icarus); Universal Exhibition of 1900, Medal of the Third Class. He is an officer of Public Instruction. Amongst his best known...
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MAINDRON, ÉTIENNE HIPPOLYTE
MAINDRON, ÉTIENNE HIPPOLYTE (French). Sculptor of the nineteenth century, born at Champtoceaux (Maine-et-Loire), on 16. December 1801; pupil of David d' Angers and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He was knighted in 1874, and died 6. March 1884. By this artist are numerous Portrait-medallions, amongst which are : CI. and Gab. Fillon de Fontenay; — Aloys Senefelder, of Prague (1772-1834); — Sister Rosalie; — Antoine Rivoulon painter (1810-1864); size 9.1 in.; cast by Lafosse (in Dr F. Parkes Weber's col...
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MAINDRON, ÉTIENNE HIPPOLYTE (French). Sculptor of the nineteenth century, born at Champtoceaux (Maine-et-Loire), on 16. December 1801; pupil of David d' Angers and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He was knighted in 1874, and died 6. March 1884. By this artist are numerous Portrait-medallions, amongst which are : CI. and Gab. Fillon de Fontenay; — Aloys Senefelder, of Prague (1772-1834); — Sister Rosalie; — Antoine Rivoulon painter (1810-1864); size 9.1 in.; cast by Lafosse (in Dr F. Parkes Weber's col...
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MAINWARING, WILLIAM
MAINWARING, WILLIAM (Brit.). Engraver of Tokens, and Medallist, whose productions date between 1790 and 1798. He resided at Birmingham, but I have been unable to trace any further information concerning his life. From Pye we learn that Mainwaring was a Manufacturer of Tokens, as well as Die-sinker. By him are : Hickman's, Birmingham, Halfpennies, 1792, with bust of John Howard (4 var.) ; — P. Deck's, Bury, Pennies (one var. illustrated), and Halfpennies, 1794, with bust of Charles, Marquis Cornw...
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MAINWARING, WILLIAM (Brit.). Engraver of Tokens, and Medallist, whose productions date between 1790 and 1798. He resided at Birmingham, but I have been unable to trace any further information concerning his life. From Pye we learn that Mainwaring was a Manufacturer of Tokens, as well as Die-sinker. By him are : Hickman's, Birmingham, Halfpennies, 1792, with bust of John Howard (4 var.) ; — P. Deck's, Bury, Pennies (one var. illustrated), and Halfpennies, 1794, with bust of Charles, Marquis Cornw...
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MAIRE, JEAN BAPTISTE
MAIRE, JEAN BAPTISTE (French). Medallist, born at Besancon, 5. August 1787, died there, 13. December 1859. His first teacher was Dominique Paillot, Director of the Drawing school of his native city. He then studied medicine, and in 1809, accompanied the French army to Spain as surgeon, but wounded at the siege of Saragossa, he returned to Besancon and turned his attention to sculpture. In 1816, he was admitted at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and worked under and for the sculptor Lemot, whom he assi...
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MAIRE, JEAN BAPTISTE (French). Medallist, born at Besancon, 5. August 1787, died there, 13. December 1859. His first teacher was Dominique Paillot, Director of the Drawing school of his native city. He then studied medicine, and in 1809, accompanied the French army to Spain as surgeon, but wounded at the siege of Saragossa, he returned to Besancon and turned his attention to sculpture. In 1816, he was admitted at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and worked under and for the sculptor Lemot, whom he assi...
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