BENSHEIMER, Johann: Germany, 1666, Silver, 55 mm
Obv: Youthful head of Margarita Teresa (facing); SIDEREO HOC VULTU COELESTIS MARGARIS EXTAT. (With this Starlike Face, Heavenly Margaret Stands Out)
Rev: A hand from heaven waters the aloe (Kaiserkronenblume) which is growing in a garden under the imperial eagle CASTA SUB AUGUSTIS AQUILAE SIC GERMINAT UMBRIS. (It Spouts Chaste in the Awesome Shadow of the Eagle)
Signed: IB
Ref: Cat. Internat. Medallic Exhib. of Am. Numis. Soc., N.Y. 1910 #12; Domanig, Erzhaus, Vgl. 213;  Weiss BW011

The Infanta Margarita Teresa of Austria (1651-1673), was the daughter of Maria Anna (the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III) and Philip IV, King of Spain. In 1666, at the age of 15 years, she was married to Leopold I (1640-1705), Roman Emperor, the event commemorated by this medal. She died seven years later after having given birth to four children, at which time Leopold married Claudia Felicitas of Tirol.

Although Forrer (Vol I, p.305) states that medals with the initials I.B. struck between 1653 and 1683 were made by Johann Bucheim and not by Johann Bensheimer, he also writes (Vol I, p.163) that Bensheimer's "signature I.B. appears on a medal, struck probably in 1666, of the Empress Margaret Theresa of Austria, second consort of Leopold I".

Margaret Theresa is the blond princess portrayed in the masterpiece Las Meninas by the great Spanish painter Diego Velázquez.