Author Topic: Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori  (Read 3770 times)

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  • Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

    R.A. Zutt 1914  Cast oval silver medallion, 50 x 24 mm, 9.76g, Frankenhuis 300

    Obv: Standing female, facing left, holding her cloak over her eyes with her right arm, in a grassy landscape, with flowering plants to either side, and two crosses marking graves, one in front of her, another behind her. 1914 in exergue.
    Rev: Inscription ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori’ and ‘Opus Zutt A.R’, all within pearl border.
    The suspension loop is part of the cast, and bears an import stamp.

    The Latin sentence, which translates as ‘It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country’ is taken from Horace’s Odes III, 2, 13. It was memorably used by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) in his poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, written in 1917, describing a poison gas attack, in which he characterised the phrase as ‘The old Lie’. He was killed in November 1918, aged 25, one week before the Armistice.
    This rare medallion is recorded by Frankenhuis. Another example was posted by Scott Goodman in 2006 in an on-line forum; a further specimen is in a private collection in Munich: Dietrich O.A. Klose, Europas Verderben 1914-1918. Deutsche und österreichische Medaillen auf den Ersten Weltkrieg, Munich: Staatliche Münzsammlung München, 2016, p. 222, no. 15.5.
Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori
« on: September 05, 2019, 02:09:09 PM »
Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

R.A. Zutt 1914  Cast oval silver medallion, 50 x 24 mm, 9.76g, Frankenhuis 300

Obv: Standing female, facing left, holding her cloak over her eyes with her right arm, in a grassy landscape, with flowering plants to either side, and two crosses marking graves, one in front of her, another behind her. 1914 in exergue.
Rev: Inscription ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori’ and ‘Opus Zutt A.R’, all within pearl border.
The suspension loop is part of the cast, and bears an import stamp.

The Latin sentence, which translates as ‘It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country’ is taken from Horace’s Odes III, 2, 13. It was memorably used by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) in his poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, written in 1917, describing a poison gas attack, in which he characterised the phrase as ‘The old Lie’. He was killed in November 1918, aged 25, one week before the Armistice.
This rare medallion is recorded by Frankenhuis. Another example was posted by Scott Goodman in 2006 in an on-line forum; a further specimen is in a private collection in Munich: Dietrich O.A. Klose, Europas Verderben 1914-1918. Deutsche und österreichische Medaillen auf den Ersten Weltkrieg, Munich: Staatliche Münzsammlung München, 2016, p. 222, no. 15.5.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2019, 03:15:29 PM by Haarmann »