Watch List notes:

Germany > Brandenburg: Joseph and His Brothers inflationary Jeton ("Josefs-Jeton" - "Joseph und Seine Bruder" Rechenpfennig), 1772; struck in white metal (tin?); by Johann Christian Reich; 30.5mm, 6.1g. Obverse depicts Joseph (without corn-sack) and his brothers (kneeling before him) surmounted by German legend "DIE THEURUNG IM LAND. MACHT IOSEPH BEKANT." (loosely translated as "The Famine in the Land Makes Joseph"), and below on 2 (possibly 3) lines: "IOH:CH:REICH.FEC / DANTES" - there may also be "1772" underneath as per cited sources below though not easily visible on this piece. On reverse 12 lines of text, starting with "1771" and ending with "Grose Noth" and a bar/line underneath. Medallic rotation; thin planchet. The anti-Semitic "Joseph Jeton" medal was struck during a time of high inflation in 1771-1772, and drawing on the Biblical story of Joseph and the 7 year famine in Egypt, Johann Reich here ascribed fault for the famine to Joseph (the Jew) himself. Leonard Forrer mentons Reich's famine era counters (jetons) only in passing, and sums up (vol. 5, p.71) Reich's artistic legacy thus: "One can only confirm Bolzenthal's appreciation of this Medallist's work, that it does not rank very high in artistic merit." In VF-EF: crudely struck and slightly off-center & bent planchet but exhibits surprisingly good detail and shows luster; weight and appearance suggests white metal but cited sources attribute to this a tin planchet; Brettauer-1935; P.u.R-155; Kirschner-XII.