Preview
Geography
Chicago, IL
Culture
American
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
Diameter: 2.25 in. (5.65 cm)
Weight: 2.9 oz (82.3 g)
Credit Line
Long-term Loan from the Estate of Boris Blick, 2015
Accession Number
2015.160.2
Condition
This medal is in pristine condition, with little to no sign of wear. (March 2025)
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Obverse:
RESEARCH / INDUSTRY
ERZ
1833 / 1933
©️
Reverse:
A / CENTURY / OF / PROGRESS / INTERNATIONAL / EXPOSITION / CHICAGO / 1933
ZETTLER
Creator Biography
Emil Robert Zettler was born in 1878 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and he moved to America with his family at a young age. Zettler studied at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago where he focused on stone carving. While briefly moving back to Germany to further his skills as a sculptor at the Royal Academy of Berlin, he returned to Chicago where he found much success as a sculptor. Zettler spent most of his time creating medals for various individuals, many of which he received awards for across the United States. By 1929 he was an established artist in Chicago, and he founded the Industrial Arts Program at the Chicago School of Art Institute. Using his metalwork skills on a much larger scale, Zettler was involved with architects and began creating many of the sculptural details of buildings throughout Chicago. After a successful life, Zettler passed away in 1946.
Description
Coin collecting dates back to antiquity, when coins were sought after or purchased primarily as investments. During the Renaissance, coin collections were popular among monarchs and royal families, though the hobby was essentially limited to the very wealthy regardless. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, coin collecting had become a hobby for the middle class, too. These collections were indicators of wealth and taste.
In the case of commemorative coins and medals from nineteenth international exhibitions, they became souvenirs that marked a memorable experience and historic event. Souvenirs are objects imbued with significance because of the owner’s memories associated with it. International expositions produced and sold a variety of souvenirs including glassware, spoons, saltshakers, books, maps, postcards, coins, and medals depicting the festivities and fairgrounds. Expositions celebrated progress and technological advancement, and the design of these medals reflects these central themes in addition to listing the exposition’s name, date, and city.
Many of the medals at the 1893 Columbian Exposition featured an image of Christopher Columbus (for whom the Exposition was named) in addition to a building or attraction. This 1893 medal features the bust of Christopher Columbus and the fair’s administrative building. This building was one of the fair’s architectural centerpieces, and was the typically the first building visitors entered if they arrived by train. Consequently, its rendering on the Exposition medal memorializes this building’s grand entrance. The official 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition medal features an aerial map of the fairgrounds on one side, and a male nude with arms spread wide and legs astride, flanked by the words Research and Industry on the other. The national exposition celebrated Chicago’s centennial as a “century of progress.”
People have collected coins and continue to collect them for different reasons—as investments, just for fun, or as souvenirs. Beyond functioning as personal mementos to those who were fortunate enough to visit the expositions, these coins and medals gave visitors the chance to share their experience and the themes of the with friends and family who were unable to attend in a tangible way. These objects once functioned as personal mementos for the expositions, and are now often highly sought-after by collectors for their rarity and historical significance.
—Jessica Ferrer ('17)
This medal would have been a souvenir from Chicago’s Second World Fair known as the “Century of Progress Exposition”. The male figure seen on the medal’s obverse looks to the left as his arms are outstretched and he takes on a wide stance. He keeps his left leg straightened while he bends his right leg. Additionally, the figure is nude with a pleated cloth wrapped around his waist and floating to the left. The figure stands on two bases with the inscriptions, “1833” and “1933”, and three elongated hexagons fill the space between the two bases. Just above the figure’s left hand is a leaf branch, with the word “RESEARCH” inscribed vertically and just below the hand. To the left of the inscription, there is a copyright symbol. Above the figure’s right hand is a geometric symbol, and below, and also vertical, it reads, “INDUSTRY”. Underneath this inscription, the creator’s initials, “ERZ” can be found inscribed in the margin. The medal’s obverse includes a relief map of the public park in which the Chicago’s World Fair Century of Progress Exhibition would have taken place, and in the space that depicts Lake Michigan, there is a simplified compass rose with an “N” to left in order to orient the map. On the left of the map, Zettler’s signage can be found. Encompassing this map, the medal reads: “CHICAGO / 1933 / A / CENTURY / OF / PROGRESS / INTERNATIONAL / EXPOSITION /.”
