Gertrud Seidmann

Gertrud Seidmann, FSA, FRSA (16 September 1919 – 15 February 2013) was an Austrian-British linguist and jewellery historian, specialising in engraved gems.

Gertrud Seidmann FSA FRSA
Born	(1919-09-16)16 September 1919
Died	15 February 2013(2013-02-15) (aged 93)
Awards	Goethe Medal
Academic background
Alma mater	Wolfson College, Oxford
Academic work
Discipline	Linguist
Institutions	Battersea County School, University of Oxford, University of Southampton

Her first career was as a linguist, teaching German and applied linguistics at Battersea County School, the University of Oxford, and the University of Southampton: she was awarded the Goethe Medal in 1968. She formally retired in 1979 and dedicated herself to researching jewellery and engraved gems, becoming a research associate of the Institute of Archaeology and of Oxford's Beazley Archive.^[1][2][3][4]

In 2004, Seidmann matriculated into Wolfson College, Oxford to study for a Master of Letters (MLitt) research degree. She thereby became the University of Oxford's oldest ever student. She went on to undertake research towards a doctorate in the School of Archaeology. In 2011, due to ill health and at the age of 91, she ended her studies and was awarded a Certificate of Graduate Attainment by the university.^[2][3]

Honours

In 1985, Seidmann was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).^[1] She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 1986.^[1]

In 1999, a Festschrift was published in her honour: it was titled Classicism to Neo-classicism: Essays dedicated to Gertrud Seidmann, and was edited by Martin Henig and Dimitris Plantzos.^[5]

Selected works

• "Nathaniel Marchant, Gem-engraver, 1739-1816". The Volume of the Walpole Society. 53: 1–105. 1987.
• Seidmann, Gertrud (1997). "Person seals in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England and their antecedents". In Collon, Dominique (ed.). 7000 years of seals. London: British Museum Press. ISBN 9780714111438.