Heads and Tales: The Odyssey of a Medals Collector

Stephen Scher — a collector, scholar, and curator — has assembled the finest private collection of portrait medals in the world, part of which he and his wife, Janie Woo Scher, have given to The Frick Collection (and which is the focus of the exhibition, The Pursuit of Immortality: Masterpieces from the Scher Collection of Portrait Medals). This lecture tells the story behind building a collection of this stature — a tale of motivation, temptations, mistakes, and successes — as well as touching upon the development of the medal and its varied messages.

This lecture is made possible by the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation.