Richard Förster.
1919. W E L T K R I E G —— 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 9 (World War 1914 - 1919). Cast bronze, medium-brown patina, 66.6 mm, 95.9 g. Vorzüglich (extra-fine). Rare!
Obverse: across a burning land, above a flaming town, a naked
Kriegsfürie (war-fury) clad in only a windblown cloak, strides to left, clutching a writhing serpent in her right hand and a flaming torch in her left, her long hair knotted behind head; four stars center left sky; artist's initials R. F. lower center edge.
Reverse: in center field the world globe with flames and smoke ascending from the European continent; crescent moon, stars, planet Saturn, a comet in the surrounding firmament; title inscription on riband scroll undulating across lower field.
Cf:
Die zeitgenössische Medaille und Plakette in Deutschland und Österreich der letzten 20 Jahre in Guss und Prägung, (1930), p. 14, pl. 3: no. 3 (obverse).
Cf: Kluge, B., and B. Weisser. 2014.
Gold gab ich für Eisen, p. 110: A27.
Cf: Klose, Dietrich O. A. 2016.
Europas Verderben 1914 1918: Deutsche und österreichische Medaillen auf den Ersten Weltkrieg, p 269: 22.10.
Cf: Weisser, B. 2017. "Medallic Art in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the First World War" in Phagan, P., and P. van Alfen,
The Art of Devastation: Medals and Posters of the Great War, pp. 86, 85: fig. 12 (same example as in Kluge and Weisser).
War-furies carrying flaming swords and/or burning torches are often represented in Middle-European art, including medals, around the time of the First World War.
