S. Johnson - Milano - INNOCENTI - Italian cars

[stredo]

Dear friends. I've been around numismatics for a while, but determining this medal is beyond my abilities. I managed to find out that it is made by the Italian company S. Johnson - unfortunately I haven't found anything about it, but it seems to me that it is dedicated to high-quality, more luxurious things.

According to the weight of 20g and hallmark 750, it should be 18 carat gold. However, I cannot guess at all what this pendant could be used for. An accessory to a luxury car? Winning a race? A gift for a manager?

If you have any information I would be grateful.

If you are someone here who speaks Italian, maybe you will discover more on the web than I did.

[Hrefn]

Innocenti was an Italian automobile manufacturer.   One of their products was sports cars.  I suspect they had a racing team.  

 

[stredo]

Thank you for your opinion. I have write to INNOCENTI club and they send me an answer:

 

“Dear Lukas, thanks for sharing the pictures of thia beautiful medal. Unfortunately, it's the First time we see something like that: very particolar with the image of the Innocenti plant on the 'i' in the front part. The date and name also don't male any particolar event come to our mind. It could be (but it's just an hypothesis) that It was a gift for an importante person visiting the plant in Milan. Several times famous people or politicians also from abroad visited the Innocenti plant. If we are not wrong there was a sovietic actor at these times with that name. For sure It was not something standard given to customers (in 1962 Innocenti did not produce very luxury cars, the only two models were the modest A40 and the small 950 spider). Being focused on car production, we do not know if something linked tò Lambretta or mechanical production happened in that date.  Sorry for not being able yo tell you any precise and certain information about your medal. If you manage to find more about its history please let us know.”

[Sulla80]

23 hours ago, stredo said:

Dear friends. I've been around numismatics for a while, but determining this medal is beyond my abilities. I managed to find out that it is made by the Italian company S. Johnson - unfortunately I haven't found anything about it, but it seems to me that it is dedicated to high-quality, more luxurious things.

According to the weight of 20g and hallmark 750, it should be 18 carat gold. However, I cannot guess at all what this pendant could be used for. An accessory to a luxury car? Winning a race? A gift for a manager?

If you have any information I would be grateful.

If you are someone here who speaks Italian, maybe you will discover more on the web than I did.

some potential clues that could point (tenuously) to some sort of medal commemorating a large commercial transaction or trade deal:

A book: Bagnato, Bruna. Prove di Ostpolitik: Politica ed Economia nella Strategia Italiana verso l'Unione Sovietica, 1958-1963. Leo S. Olschki Editore, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi - Torino, Archivio Luca Pietromarchi, 2003.

The title: "Experiments in Ostpolitik: Politics and Economy in the Italian Strategy towards the Soviet Union"

https://flore.unifi.it/retrieve/e398c37d-50f4-179a-e053-3705fe0a4cff/Ostpolitik2.pdf

There is a reference to the USSR's trade representative in Italy, Michail Kuznezov - the only reference I can find to this particular spelling of the name.

The date is in the right neighborhood and the context includes trade deals in oil and shipping between the Italy and the Soviet Union.

There is a reference to a deal for six tankers, "which were all to be built at the Sestri Shipyard, and would be the largest diesel-powered tankers ever commissioned from Ansaldo. The engines, each with 19,000 horsepower, would be of the Fiat 909/S type."

and this CIA reading room document adds (https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp69b00369r000100240109-9)

"Another Italian heavy machinery and machine tool manufacturer busily talking to the Russians is Innocenti of Milan. One of the first Italian companies to look East for additional business, it has been a steady supplier of milling and boring machines and presses of all types to the Soviet Union since 1901. The most recent shipment included special machines for stretching seamless tubes. Innocenti's new sales director, Dr. Gianfranco Rodocanachi, who just this month concluded another round of talks with Soviet economic officials here for the FIAT deal, smiles mysteriously and says : "We're doing lots of talking * * * have quite a few things on the fire.""

Edited August 31, 2024 by Sulla80

[Phil Anthos]

13 hours ago, Hrefn said:

Innocenti was an Italian automobile manufacturer.   One of their products was sports cars.  I suspect they had a racing team.  

 

I highly doubt they had a racing team. Cute little car though.

~ Peter 

[stredo]

Thank you very much for all valuable informations.