(b Schweinfurt, 1 Sept 1677; d Nuremberg, 1 Dec 1740). German medallist. Having been apprenticed to his father as a gingerbread baker, he studied drawing and sculpture at the Akademie in Nuremberg. He then spent several years travelling in the Netherlands, England and Switzerland, where he was employed for about a year (1701) by the Bishop of Chur at the local mint. Settling in Nuremberg in 1704, he joined the guild of gingerbread bakers as a master but also became a die-cutter at the mint. The first medal that can be securely attributed to him (Bernheimer, no. 2) dates from 1710 and is signed with a V. In the following two years Vestner executed 34 medals commemorating the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in Frankfurt and in Bratislava (Ger. Pressburg) and the homage ceremony in Nuremberg. In 1712 he cut the dies for 96 medals (Bernheimer, nos 523–618) in a series of 250 papal portraits issued by Caspar Gottlieb Lauffer (1674–1745). In 1728 Vestner received a privilege from Charles VI that permitted him to strike medals and protected them from imitation; only a few German medallists were prolific enough to need such a privilege. A large number of Vestner’s medals commemorating military events, peace treaties or important events in the life of the imperial family were intended for sale to collectors. A series of portrait medals depicting the delegates who had concluded the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 was left uncompleted after 44 medals (Bernheimer, nos 479–522) had been struck. As well as these, he produced numerous portrait medals on commission from Princes of the Church and royal personages as well as private individuals.

• Vestner, Georg Wilhelm
  • Medal, §II, 3(iv): 17th and 18th centuries: Germany