VOCABULARY TERM: OVERLAP

 

Overlap. Two scenes, usually but not necessarily circular, shown on the same plane with the dominant scene extending into the subordinate scene. Because medals are customarily circular the two sides can often be shown this way, as one side overlapping the other. The reverse of the 1890 Benjamin Harrison Indian Peace Medal (IP-48) exhibits two circular scenes overlapped (illustrated). When the two scenes are circular and placed side-by-side (not overlapped) it is called double circle. Overlap is a type of unusual shapes.

 

In 1937 Chicago engraver J. Henri Ripstra created an overlap design for the American Numismatic Association Convention Badge in Washington DC that year. The symbology here was to show the importance of both obverse and reverse in one view, ideal, perhaps, for a numismatic theme in somewhat of a bell shape.

Catalog illustrations of large coins and medals are often overlapped to fit a prescribed width, particularly for picturing the item in exact size. This obviously obliterates some overlapped detail, but can be overcome by reducing the size of the illustrations and noting the scale of reduction.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Overlap (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516442)

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