Author Topic: Field Marshall von Hindenburg  (Read 1941 times)

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  • Artur Immanuel Löwental (Loewental)  1915 

    FELDMARSCHALL  ———  VON・HINDENBURG.  Cast bronze, dark brown patina with buffed highlights, 101 mm, 381 g.  Edge-punch DS1  34 (indicating [Freunde der] Deutsche Schaumünze [edition] 1, [cast number] 34).  Fast gussfrisch (near as-cast).

    Obverse: High relief three-quarters portrait in military collar with cross of the Pour le Mérite; title legend left and right, respectively, separated by image; narrow raise rim. 

    Reverse: High relief image of muscular young man, torso clad in animal skin, to right, bending forward with right hand holding rope with which he binds bear at right, its open mouth turned back towards its captor; legend WIE・SIEGFRIED —— DER — HELD・DEN・BÆREN・BAND (how Siegfried the hero bound the bear) around edge left to right, separated by image; center field year date 1915; artist's signature LÖWENTAL・FEC; narrow raised rim.

    Cf: Schulman.  1916.  La Guerre Européenne, Catalogue LXV, p. 68: no.  697 ("Belle").  Iron example.

    Cf: Frankenhuis, M.  1919(?).  Catalogue of Medals - Medalets and Plaques Relative to the World War 1914 - 1919, p. 93:  712.

    Cf: Steguweit, W.  1998.  Das Münzkabinett und die Förderung der Medaillenkunst: Künstlerbriefe 1914-1918 Medaillenedition (Das Kabinett 5), p. 112: no. 104; pl. 30.  Bronze example lacking edge-punch.

    Cf: Kluge, B., and B. Weisser.  2014.  Gold gab ich für Eisen, pp. 161 - 162: A 85.
    Cf: Turner, John T.  2014.  Artur Immanuel Loewental 1879 - 1964: a brief introduction to his life and work, together with a selected list of his sculpted works, p. 60: LOE048 [D].


    According to Steguweit (p. 112) and Weisser (p. 161), the medal commemorates the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes (7 - 22 February 1915).

    Sometime in 1915, the medallist changed the signature on his medallic work from LÖWENTAL to LOEWENTAL, and began using the latter variant regularly.  Occasionally though, a few later pieces, some made even after his relocation to England following the Nazi seizure of power, are marked with the older form.

    Siegfried's capture of a bear is a minor incident in the first act of Wagner's opera Siegfried.  The young hero captures the animal and brings it back to the cave of the dwarf Mime, whom the bear chases, much to Siegfried's amusement.  The bear on the medal, of course, represents the Russian army which has been severely defeated following its invasion of East Prussia in 1914.
Field Marshall von Hindenburg
« on: January 04, 2020, 04:55:43 PM »

Artur Immanuel Löwental (Loewental)  1915 

FELDMARSCHALL  ———  VON・HINDENBURG.  Cast bronze, dark brown patina with buffed highlights, 101 mm, 381 g.  Edge-punch DS1  34 (indicating [Freunde der] Deutsche Schaumünze [edition] 1, [cast number] 34).  Fast gussfrisch (near as-cast).

Obverse: High relief three-quarters portrait in military collar with cross of the Pour le Mérite; title legend left and right, respectively, separated by image; narrow raise rim. 

Reverse: High relief image of muscular young man, torso clad in animal skin, to right, bending forward with right hand holding rope with which he binds bear at right, its open mouth turned back towards its captor; legend WIE・SIEGFRIED —— DER — HELD・DEN・BÆREN・BAND (how Siegfried the hero bound the bear) around edge left to right, separated by image; center field year date 1915; artist's signature LÖWENTAL・FEC; narrow raised rim.

Cf: Schulman.  1916.  La Guerre Européenne, Catalogue LXV, p. 68: no.  697 ("Belle").  Iron example.

Cf: Frankenhuis, M.  1919(?).  Catalogue of Medals - Medalets and Plaques Relative to the World War 1914 - 1919, p. 93:  712.

Cf: Steguweit, W.  1998.  Das Münzkabinett und die Förderung der Medaillenkunst: Künstlerbriefe 1914-1918 Medaillenedition (Das Kabinett 5), p. 112: no. 104; pl. 30.  Bronze example lacking edge-punch.

Cf: Kluge, B., and B. Weisser.  2014.  Gold gab ich für Eisen, pp. 161 - 162: A 85.
Cf: Turner, John T.  2014.  Artur Immanuel Loewental 1879 - 1964: a brief introduction to his life and work, together with a selected list of his sculpted works, p. 60: LOE048 [D].


According to Steguweit (p. 112) and Weisser (p. 161), the medal commemorates the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes (7 - 22 February 1915).

Sometime in 1915, the medallist changed the signature on his medallic work from LÖWENTAL to LOEWENTAL, and began using the latter variant regularly.  Occasionally though, a few later pieces, some made even after his relocation to England following the Nazi seizure of power, are marked with the older form.

Siegfried's capture of a bear is a minor incident in the first act of Wagner's opera Siegfried.  The young hero captures the animal and brings it back to the cave of the dwarf Mime, whom the bear chases, much to Siegfried's amusement.  The bear on the medal, of course, represents the Russian army which has been severely defeated following its invasion of East Prussia in 1914.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2020, 09:15:57 PM by Haarmann »