Sweden Tin-Alloy Medal 1692 - Johan Gabriel Stenbock - Karl XI (1660–1697)

70.02g. 61mm. AU/AU. 

Medalier: Arvid Karlsteen (signed KARLSTEEN on obverse under bust). 

Hyckert p. 95; Stenström (NNÅ 1945) 84. 

Very rare. 

Obv.: Armored bust of Johan Gabriel Stenbock right, wearing long curled wig and draped mantle. 

Inscription around: 

I • G • STENBOK • S • R • M • SENAT • & • MARESCH • SVPR 

(Johan Gabriel Stenbock, Senator of the Realm and Supreme Marshal). 

Rev.: Eagle flying right above a landscape, head turned back. 

Inscription around: 

ELEMENTVM • MEVM • LIBERTAS 

(My element is freedom). 

In exergue: 

1692.  

Johan Gabriel Stenbock (1640-1705) was a Swedish Field Marshal and statesman under Karl XI. He rose rapidly at court, first serving under Queen Christina and later as chamberlain and court marshal to Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora. In 1673, at the age of thirty-three, he was appointed Riksmarsk (Lord High Marshal) and became a prominent member of the Royal Council, remaining one of its most influential figures for decades. 

He maintained the confidence of Karl XI and later Karl XII, participating in state administration and the reduction reforms of the 1680s. Known for his courtly refinement and distinguished presence, Stenbock combined political authority with aristocratic culture typical of the Swedish high nobility of the period. 

According to Hyckert, the present medal was struck by Stenbock himself in 1692 after he had been urged by the king to redeem a diamond necklace pledged in the treasury. Reportedly dissatisfied, he considered leaving the kingdom and commissioned this piece as an expression of his personal sentiments, reflected in the motto ELEMENTVM MEVM LIBERTAS (“Freedom is my element”).