Author Topic: Flax cultivation 1916  (Read 14882 times)

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  • 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.
Flax cultivation 1916
« 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.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2022, 09:04:49 PM by Henry Scott Goodman »