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11
Carl Ebbinghaus / Re: Skagerrak
« Last post by NetJohn on November 13, 2022, 01:49:43 PM »
Still looking for this medal. If anyone knows of one for sale, please let me know.

John
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Walther Eberbach 1866-1944 / Re: "Verdun die Weltblutpumpe"
« Last post by NetJohn on November 13, 2022, 01:48:35 PM »
Eberbach's Totentanz series, and this one in particular, continue to be very popular with collections.  A 11 Nov 2022 auction in Germany, one of these Verdun "bloodpump" medals sold for 1700 Euros (plus fee).

A very strong market.

John
13
Franz Guntermann / Flax cultivation 1916
« Last post by Rabenauge on September 05, 2022, 04:26:29 PM »

Franz Guntermann.  1916.  FÜR❀FÖRDERUNG❀DES❀FLACHSBAUES❀ (for advancement of flax cultivation).  Cast iron, blackened, 80 mm, 147.15 g.  Vorzüglich (extremely fine).  Rare.

Obverse: Young woman, barefoot, in bonnet and full-length smock, bending to left gathers a bundle of flax stalks; hight relief image; gradually rising rim. 

Reverse: Title legend in broad raised border; year date 19 - 16 center field divided by single vertical stalk flax; artist's signature F. GUNTERMANN along lower left border edge.

Despite its modest subject among war medals, this is a masterfully sculpted, handsomely designed piece referencing the constraints of Germany's wartime economy. 

Following Italy's alliance with the Triple Entente in 1915, raw cotton imports to the German textile industry ceased, and the country attempted, never entirely successfully, to make up shortages by increasing production of hemp and flax.  With most able-bodied men at the front, much agricultural work fell to women.  Based on the medal's legend, one assumes it to have been an award, but I have thus far been unable to discover either criteria for its bestowal or any published references to the medal itself.
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Josef Gangl / Deutschland über Alles 1914
« Last post by Rabenauge on September 05, 2022, 04:19:32 PM »

Josef Gangl.  1914.  DEUTSCHLAND / DEUTSCHLAND / ÜBER — ALLES (Germany, Germany above all else).  Cast bronze, dark brown patina, gilded lettering and images on reverse, 101 mm, 285.96 g.  Vorzüglich (extremely fine). 

Obverse: On ground-line three naked men combat each other with two-handed broadswords; behind them fourth man semi-recumbent feebly raises broken sword with left hand, his severed right hand beside him; year-date 1 9 1 4 inscribed in exergue; artist's signature JOS GANGL inscribed vertically lower right; raised rim. 

Reverse: Three-line title inscription spanning central field; imperial crown center above inscription; four-pointed radiant star below; lettering and images gilded; raised rim.

Cf: Bernhart, Max.  1915.  Kriegsmedaillen bayerischer Künstler, pl. III, no. 22 (obverse illustrated).
Cf: Schulman.  1919.  La Guerre Européenne, Catalogue LXXV,  p. 27: no. 237.
Cf:Bernhart, Max.  1917.  Die Münchener Medaillenkunst der Gegenwart, pl. 12, no. 90 (obverse illustrated).
Cf: Frankenhuis, M.  (1919?).  Catalogue of Medals - Medalets and Plaques Relative to the World War 1914 - 1919, p. 80: no. 599 (mis-attributed to J. Bangl).
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Maximilan Dasio / Defeated Germany
« Last post by Rabenauge on September 05, 2022, 07:47:52 AM »

Maximilian Dasio.  1918.  MISERA•FAME•DEVICTA•GERMANIA (miserable, starving, conquered Germania).  Cast bronze, light-brown patina; 48.5 mm, 38.47 g.  Vorzüglich (extremely fine), rim nicks.

Obverse: On ground-line kneeling gowned woman to left, left hand on abdomen, right on ground clutching broken sword; title legend encircling upper rim; year date •MCMXVIII• in exergue; artist's monogram D—. center left. 

Reverse: Center field vertical sword hilt, broken blade up; raised rim.

Cf: Weber, Ingrid S.  1985.  Maximilian Dasio 1864 - 1954: Münchner Maler Medailleur und Ministerialrat.  Staatliche Münzsammlung München, p. 83: no. 102.
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Lotte Benter / von Müller / SMS Emden
« Last post by Rabenauge on September 05, 2022, 07:31:35 AM »

Lotte Benter.  1918.  Karl v Müller Fregattenkapitän (Karl v[on] Müller, Frigate Captain).  Cast iron lightly blackened, 106 mm, 336.21 g.  Vorzüglich (extremely fine).  Very rare!
 
Obverse: High-relief profile bust of subject to left in military collar and coat; title legend script (von Müller's signature?) deeply incised left edge; three-line incised artist's signature and year-date LOTTE / BENTER / 1918 lower right; later two-line incised engraving 1. Preis f. Jub. Staffel / 25 H. V. 1931 (see below). 

Reverse: Low-relief seascape with profile of SMS Emden at right steaming left; at left on horizon second ship steaming to left; overhead radiant sun; sharply raised rim.

Cf: Schulman, La Guerre Européenne, Catalogue LXXIII 1919, p. 72: no. 725 (bronze example).
Cf: Frankenhuis, M.  (1919?).  Catalogue of Medals - Medalets and Plaques Relative to the World War 1914 - 1919, p. 123: no. 958 (artist's name misspelled LOTTE BEUTER).

For another illustrated example sold at auction in 2015: https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/special-collections/lot.php?specialcollection_id=365&lot_uid=264211

In an appended note to the listing of this medal Schulman (1919, p. 72) explains: "Modelée d'après nature pendant le séjour à Noordwijk a/Zee (Hollande) du Capitaine de frégate v. Müller." (Modeled from life during the stay [i.e. internment] in Noordwijk aan Zee (Holland) of Captain v. Müller).

In 1931, this particular example was awarded as first prize of an event likely marking the jubilee celebration (Jubiläum), perhaps of an historical association (Historischer Verein), whence the engraving to right of the profile.  I have thus far not been able to trace a precise reference to this organization.

Karl von Müller (1873 - 1923) commanding the light cruiser SMS Emden, enjoyed a highly successful, albeit brief, career as a commerce raider in the Indian Ocean in the opening months of the First World War, acquiring a reputation for chivalry by his efforts to avoid harming civilians or merchant seamen on the ships taken or sunk.  The Emden was finally run aground and destroyed  by the light cruiser HMAS Sydney 8 November 1914 at the Battle of Cocos.  Müller and most of his crew were captured (though some evaded capture and returned to Germany).  The prisoners were detained at Malta, but Müller was later separated and taken to Britain.  Debilitated by malaria, he was transferred in a humanitarian prisoner exchange to neutral Holland for treatment, and was then repatriated to Germany shortly before the Armistice.  He was considered one of Germany's greatest naval heroes, and was commemorated on a number of medals, Benter's certainly being the most artistic.
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Carl Ebbinghaus / Carl Ebbinghaus - den Gefallenen ("Germania")
« Last post by Rabenauge on August 31, 2022, 03:50:24 PM »
 


Carl Ebbinghaus.  1917.  ("Germania").  LEBE DROBEN O VATERLAND UND ZAEHLE NICHT DIE TOTEN / DIR IST•LIEBES・NICHT EINER ZUVIEL GEFALLEN • (Live on high, O Fatherland and do not count the dead / For you, dear one, not one too many has fallen. - see below).  Cast iron, blackened, 71.6 mm, 86.1 g.  Gussfrisch (as cast).  Rare.

Obverse: head and neck profile young woman ("Germania") to left in Stahlhelm and ornamental collar, stylized straight hair cascading beneath helmet; two-line title legend within double bordered bands encircling image; artist's initials C • E lower center outer band; additional lined border within raised rim. 

Reverse: vertical sword center, point embedded in ground-line; inscribed year date 19 — 17 divided by blade; legend DEN • GEFALLENEN • ZUM • GEDÄCHTNIS • (in memory of the fallen); artist's initials C. E. inscribed below ground-line; lined border within raised rim.

Cf: Schottmüller, Frieda.  1917.  "Kleinbronzen von Carl Ebbinghaus" in Die Kunst für Alle, 32. Jahrgang 1916 / 1917, Heft 11 / 12, März 1917, pp. 216 - 225 ( also as online resource: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kfa1916_1917/0239/scroll).  Although the present medal is neither described nor illustrated, p. 221 shows a selection of medals, including one of smaller format depicting a woman's profile head in wreathed Stahlhelm labeled GERMANIA, from which it can be inferred that the present medal is another treatment of the same subject.  P. 222 also illustrates a three-dimensional iron head of Germania in Stahlhelm.

Title legend from last stanza of Friedrich Hölderlin's ode Der Tod fürs Vaterland (Death for the Fatherland), 1796:

"Und Siegesboten kommen herab: Die Schlacht
Ist unser! Lebe droben, o Vaterland,
Und zähle nicht die Toten! Dir ist,
Liebes! nicht Einer zu viel gefallen."

(And heralds of victory descend: The battle is ours!  Live on high, O Fatherland,and do not count the dead! For you,dear one! not one too many has fallen.)

[attachment
18
The Hall of Shame / Re: Chinese/Russian Crap Infiltration
« Last post by NetJohn on December 12, 2021, 10:33:59 PM »
I saw that and also emailed saying it was a bad reproduction. Makes me wonder the ethics of the auction house.

John
19
The Hall of Shame / Chinese/Russian Crap Infiltration
« Last post by Haarmann on December 10, 2021, 01:56:05 PM »
I guess it was inevitable that these poorly copied Goetz pieces would begin to show up in ill-informed or 'make a euro at any price' auction houses.  This auction house was informed well before auction time that this was obviously not an authentic goetz yet they went ahead and took 85 euro from some novice collector anyway.  This crap sells on Ebay for cheap.

So it begins.

https://www.sixbid.com/en/dr-busso-peus-nachf/8883/deutsche-mnzen-und-medaillen/7489627/mnchen-stadt?term=karl%20Goetz&orderCol=lot_number&orderDirection=asc&priceFrom&displayMode=large&auctionSessions=&sidebarIsSticky=false
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August Gaul / Red Cross / eagle heads
« Last post by NetJohn on October 01, 2021, 04:38:21 PM »
(Thought I'd follow the same style of subject as the other posts!)



Cast iron medal by August Gaul, 1915.

This medal was a reward for donating at least 25 marks to the Red Cross in 1915. The obverse shows the heads of the Austrian double-headed eagle atop the head of the German heraldic eagle below a heading of "1914-1915". To the right of the German eagle is "DEUTSCHLAND" ("Germany") and to the left is "UND OESTERREICH UNGARN" ("and Austria-Hungary"), the two central powers.

On the reverse are two naked heroines back-to-back defending themselves and each other with swords, a "mythological" allegory for teamwork. The quote by Goethe "Zusammen haltet euren wert - und euch ist niemand gleich" is roughly translated as "Together you are stronger than others."

Cast iron, 57 mm.

[Attributions: Klose 7.4]
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