1971 Elbert Weinberg Pandora Medal Society of Medalists 84 Bronze

Weinberg split the myth across the two faces and labeled them ONE and TWO, so the medal has to be turned over to be read. Side one is the box still shut, a row of profiles pressed together behind it and something coiled and serpentine rising at the right. Side two is the box open: a mushroom cloud stands where the lid was, and two figures lie collapsed at the bottom of the frame. A 1971 artist reaching for the oldest story about curiosity and consequences did not have to explain which consequence he meant. Weinberg was a sculptor of religious and mythological subjects who taught at Boston University and showed at the Whitney, and the Society commissioned him at the height of that work. The Society of Medalists ran from 1930 to 1995 and put the best American sculptors of each decade on two faces of bronze twice a year, which is why the series is collected as a run rather than piece by piece. 1,223 were struck in bronze, at 73 mm. The original box and brochure are both still with it.