Anton Hám (20 April 1899 – 23 November 1965) was a Slovak engraver and medallist. He was born and died in the town of

Kremnica Kremnica (; , ) is a town in central Slovakia. It has around 5,300 inhabitants. The well-preserved medieval town built above important gold mines is the site of the oldest still-working mint in the world. Name The name is derived from Slovak '' ...

Life

Anton Hám came from the family with coin-minting and mining tradition. His father, Anton Hám Sr., was a coiner in the Kremnica Mint of the

Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

, one of the oldest mints along the Paris mint (

Monnaie de Paris The (, ''Paris Mint (coin), Mint'') is a government-owned institution responsible for producing France, France's coins. Founded in AD 864 by King Charles the Bald with the Edict of Pistres, it is the oldest continuously running minting instituti ...

) and Rome mint. Continuing the family tradition, Anton Hám Jr. was preparing himself for an engraving profession. Due to his talent, he won a scholarship at the art college in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

where he studied in 1916–1919. During riots in the First World War, he returned home and worked as an engraver in the Kremnica Mint. On the Professor Otakar Španiel recommendation, he started his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, specializing in medals (1922–1925). Despite he was among the best students, he had to soon complete his studies to overtake a leading position as a chief engraver in engraving department of the State Mint in Kremnica after deceased medalist Jan Čejka. Subsequently, he worked there for 46 years until his retirement. In 1928, he married Jozefína Nemčeková from

and bought a villa located in a Kremnica's district called "Masarykova štvrť" where their son Milan was born. A big fruit orchard surrounding his house was a place where Anton Hám spent working all his leisure time. Dedicating his life and work to the Kremnica Mint, Anton Hám became one of the most brilliant personalities building high prestige of the Mint.

Work

As a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Anton Hám made 1000 pieces of the numbered stamping dies for Czechoslovak ducats (1923). They were called St. Wenceslas ducats (svätováclavské dukáty), which were used as an official trade currency in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Nowadays, these gold coins belong to precious antiques. Later, Anton Hám produced the very first Czechoslovak hall-marks for gold and silver. He also worked as an author of medals, a sculptor and a specialist in coin fakes. Medals called Kremnica and Doná brána (1930) have been very popular in the past, as well as another piece called Oživenie kremnického baníctva (1934) struck in gold even repeatedly later. He is known as a co-author of all coins produced during the Slovak Republic (1939–45) and he co-designed Polish coins as 1

Polish zloty Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

(1949), 50 and 20 groszy (1949). Kremnica plaketa

Anton Hám introduced in the Kremnica Mint enamelling of

lapel pin A lapel pin, also known as an enamel pin, is a small brooch, pin worn on clothing, often on the Jacket lapel, lapel of a jacket, attached to a bag, or displayed on a piece of fabric. Lapel pins can be ornamental or can indicate the wearer's affi ...

s and

order (honour) An order is a visible honour awarded by a sovereign state, monarch, dynastic house or organisation to a person, typically in recognition of individual merit, that often comes with distinctive insignia such as collars, medals, badges, and sas ...

-s that were very popular and have been produced for leading companies in the state. A large number of his pins have been focused on sports, religious, historical and agricultural themes. In 1937, he became acquainted with

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...

s and the Janvier reduction machines for the medal art on his study stay in Paris, which then he introduced in the Kremnica Mint. After the Second World War, he was regarded as the top researcher and constructor specialized in automation of the striking technology, mainly in techniques of cold striking, which were positively reviewed in abroad. This technology allowed minting a medal with a record diameter of 150 mm in an incredibly short period of five days beginning with a sketch and ending with the medal. That was the biggest world medal exhibited at Salon International de la Médaille 1949, in Paris. The annual report of the Kremnica Mint (2011) states that in 1948 the Mint was recognized at the world fair of medal manufacturers ( FIDEM) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for its medal with a diameter of 150 mm, which remained unsurpassed until the early 21st century.

Coins of the Slovak Republic (1939–45)

Anton Hám co-authored the all coins produced in Slovak Republic (1939–45). Detailed information on these coins can be found in 2012 Standard Catalog of World Coins and the other cited literature.Medailér a rytec Anton Hám a mincovňa v Kremnici / Author of medals and engraver Anton Hám and the mint of Kremnica
, Numismatické listy 63 (1): 22-29, Národní muzeum v Praze, 2008 * Coin of 5 Slovak haliers (1942) * Coin of 10 Slovak haliers (1939, 1942) * Coin of 20 Slovak haliers Cu (1940 – 42) * Coin of 20 Slovak haliers Al (1942 – 43) * Coin of 50 Slovak haliers Cu (1940 – 41) * Coin of 50 Slovak haliers Al (1943 – 44) * Coin of 1

Slovak koruna The Slovak koruna or Slovak crown (, literally meaning ''Slovak crown'') was the currency of Slovakia between 8 February 1993 and 31 December 2008, and could be used for cash payment until 16 January 2009. The ISO 4217 code was ''SKK'' and the lo ...

(1940 – 42, 44, 45) * Coin of 5 Slovak korunas (1939) * Coin of 20 Slovak korunas (1939) * Coin of 50 Slovak korunas (1939)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Anton 20th-century Slovak engravers Slovak engravers 20th-century medallists 1899 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Slovak sculptors Czechoslovak sculptors Czechoslovak artists