Author Topic: Iron eagle  (Read 4137 times)

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  • Carl Stock.  1915. 

    ("Der Adler in Eisen") HILFE — FÜR / KRIEGS — GEFAN / GENE — DEUTSCHE / 19 — 15 (assistance for German war-prisoners 1915).  Cast iron, vertical oval, blackened, 89.53 x 60.37 mm, 196.13 g.  Vorzüglich (extremely fine).  Scarce in this size (see below).

    Obverse: Eagle in profile, perched on a rock, to left. 

    Reverse: Naked sword plunging vertically into the writhing body of a serpent or dragon from which blood spurts; heads of seven snakes ascend around the blade; four-line title inscription upper field divided left-right by sword; artist's initials C  —  ST lower edge, left and right respectively.

    Image on obverse is that of "der Adler in Eisen" or "der eiserne Adler" (the eagle in iron, the iron eagle), a nail figure (Nagelfigur, Nagelung, Kriegsnagelung) erected in Frankfurt am Main in 1915.  The wooden sculpture, also by Carl Stock (1876 - 1945) was used to solicit donations for prisoner-of-war aid.  In return for a donation an ornamental nail was hammered into the figure, which eventually became studded with iron. 


    Numerous smaller versions of this medal - approx. 50 x 30 m - and with eyelets for hanging attached at top, were issued in iron, silver, bronze or zinc, also likely in return for donations.  Large format examples like the one above are seldom encountered.
Iron eagle
« on: December 08, 2019, 03:30:55 AM »

Carl Stock.  1915. 

("Der Adler in Eisen") HILFE — FÜR / KRIEGS — GEFAN / GENE — DEUTSCHE / 19 — 15 (assistance for German war-prisoners 1915).  Cast iron, vertical oval, blackened, 89.53 x 60.37 mm, 196.13 g.  Vorzüglich (extremely fine).  Scarce in this size (see below).

Obverse: Eagle in profile, perched on a rock, to left. 

Reverse: Naked sword plunging vertically into the writhing body of a serpent or dragon from which blood spurts; heads of seven snakes ascend around the blade; four-line title inscription upper field divided left-right by sword; artist's initials C  —  ST lower edge, left and right respectively.

Image on obverse is that of "der Adler in Eisen" or "der eiserne Adler" (the eagle in iron, the iron eagle), a nail figure (Nagelfigur, Nagelung, Kriegsnagelung) erected in Frankfurt am Main in 1915.  The wooden sculpture, also by Carl Stock (1876 - 1945) was used to solicit donations for prisoner-of-war aid.  In return for a donation an ornamental nail was hammered into the figure, which eventually became studded with iron. 


Numerous smaller versions of this medal - approx. 50 x 30 m - and with eyelets for hanging attached at top, were issued in iron, silver, bronze or zinc, also likely in return for donations.  Large format examples like the one above are seldom encountered.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2019, 09:55:57 PM by Haarmann »