Gold Beater Magnet

Make that money, literally! This colorful image of a gold beater will be a great addition to any magnet collection.

In 1376 Bologna established a new government free from papal control. By 1380 it was minting its own gold currency. New types of financial records were also produced, including registers of citizens who had lent money to the city. This worn but handsome leaf, from a Bolognese register of this type, depicts two pages one featuring St. Peter, one of the city’s patron saints. In the adjacent scene, as depicted on this magnet, a goldbeater raises his hammer as he steadies an ingot on an anvil to make the thin sheets needed to produce new coins. Evidence of his industry surrounds him: gold and silver discs fill the room, piled in sacks, in chests, and on the floor.

This magnet was made from the Morgan's collections to complement the exhibition Medieval Money, Merchants and Morality on view at the Morgan Library & Museum November 10, 2023 through March 10, 2024.