Carl Ebbinghaus. 1916. SKagerraK / 31 . 5 . 16. Cast bronze medal, blackened, 92.62 mm, 187.29 g. Vorzüglich (extremely fine) obverse; sehr schön (fine) reverse, the latter more worn, patina somewhat unevenly discolored. Rare.
Obverse: Naked figure of biblical David, full length, three-quarters to right, with torso twisted full front, head turned in profile to left, wearing only a low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, his right hand clutching an outsized, wide-bladed scimitar with point to ground, his left hand raising strands of hair and beard from the full-face head of Goliath resting on the ground, on which David has placed his left foot; two-line title legend along right edge; artist's initials C.E. mid lower left.
Reverse: Poorly defined roped or chained rim; at upper center large exclamation point (!), below which four-lines inscription text in script: „So geiht't de Prahlhäns' alle Tid / un wenn sei mein'n sei stahn / denn liggn sei / in de Schit." ("That's how it is all the time with braggarts, and when they think they're standing up, they're lying in shit."); below center the name REUTER.
Cf: Steguweit, Wolfgang. 2000.
Die Medaille und Gedenkmünze des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland, p. 37: 89; plate 30.
Cf: Klose, Dietrich O. A. 2016.
Europas Verderben 1914 1918: deutsche und österreichische Medaillen auf den Ersten Weltkrieg, p. 187: 12.18.
This medal celebrates the German High Seas Fleet's "victory" at the Battle of Skagerrak (=Jutland). The figure of David with the head of Goliath likely influenced by the bronze sculpture of the subject by Donatello. The text on reverse drawn from the Mecklenburger poet and writer Fritz Reuter's
Ut mine Stromtid, 2nd part, chapter 26, written in Plattdeutsch dialect.