Martin Holtzhey

Portrait of the medallist Martin Holtzhey, obverse. Silver, 1729. Holtzhey produced this medal to advertise his work and name. Portrait of the medallist Martin Holtzhey, reverse. Silver, 1729. View of the skyline of Amsterdam with Holtzhey's coin press.

Commemorative medal for Martin Holtzhey. Silver, 1764. An angel is depicted carrying the portrait of Martin Holtzhey up to heaven. On the globe the three provinces in which Holthey has lived and worked are indicated (Holland, Gelderland, Zeeland). The three plants represent his three children. The inscription reads Tandem parta Quies : He has finally found peace. Martin Holtzhey (1697, in Ulm – 1764, in Middelburg), was an 18th-century German medallist and mint master, active in the Dutch Republic.

Biography He was the father of the medallist Johann Georg Holtzhey. He worked in the Hague, Amsterdam, Harderwijk and Middelburg. The next year his son Johann Georg was born, and in 1636 his youngest son Martin Jr. was born. and his 1740 medal in celebration of the 300th anniversary of Laurens Janszoon Coster's discovery of moveable type. When Holtzhey struck such "historical medals", he often included a paper explaining the symbolism he used on them, a tradition that was continued later by his son Johann Georg.

In 1749 he handed his Amsterdam workshop over to his son Johann Georg when he moved to Harderwijk to become mint master of Gelderland.