Medalii, plachete, ordine, decorații, monede și bancnote cu portretele regelui Ferdinand I și reginei Maria
Medals, plaquettes, orders, decorations, coins and banknotes with the portraits of the King Ferdinand I and Queen Marry

Summary/Abstract: Ferdinand of HohenzoUern-Sigmaringen, the eldest son of Prince Leopold, the brother of Charles, was designated Crown Prince of Romania, in 1880, is quite strange that the event was not commemorated by a special medallic issue. The first medallic portrait of the crown prince appeared as late as 1891, on a "popular" medal. The effigy of the crown prince is depicted next to those of Charles I and Elizabeth. The artistic and technical worth of the portrait, made by C. Schwartz, is, however, low. The first major portrait of Ferdinand, as crown prince, dates from 1893 and is owed to the great artist Anton Scharff. It is a medal struck on the occasion of the marriage of the Crown Prince of Romania to Princess Mary of Great Britain and Ireland. Scharff realized a delicate portrait of the young couple, suggesting serenity and youthfulness. This medallic portrait would be a model for the one depicted on a piece from 1894, modeled by Johann Schwertdner and Menachem Camiol the son. Unfortunately, the latter is only a poor copy of Scharff s work. A shy and unassuming person, Ferdinand would reappear in the Romanian medallic art in 1897, when he miraculously survived a disease, incurable at that time. The portrait made by Carniol the son depicts an already mature man. Very important are the portraits of Ferdinand from 1907 - 1914, most of them realized by Tony Szirmai. The crown prince is depicted as a man marked by disease, prematurely old, but who kept his serenity and dignity in the face of adverse fate. Later Szirmai, alone or in association with Lordonnois, realized the first portraits of Ferdinand as King of Romania, in 1914 and 1916. The last one appears on the design of a medal dedicated to Romania joining in the World War I , and on a medal dedicated to the Romanian-French alliance. The dramatic events of Romania joining in the war on the side of the Entente are reflected also in the work of the artist Constantin Dimitrescu. He made the design of a medal whose multiplication was prevented by the vicissitudes of the fate Romania faced in the autumn and winter of 1916. Dimitrescu's model is a masterpiece of the Romanian medallic art. It depicts best the existential drama of the King, caught between his loyalty as German Prince of HohenzoUern-Sigmaringen to his native country, and that of King of Romania, his foster land. The vigorous medallic art, reduced to essential lines, makes of the king's portrait one of a martyr. Although King Ferdinand I and Queen Mary used to be distinguished admirers of the medallic art, as proved by the numerous orders launched by the princely couple between 1894 and 1914, as well as by the quality and modernity of their artistry, the political and economic difficulties undergone in the history of the country between 1916 and 1921 influenced also the medal issuing in the first half of their reign.

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