NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: MARCH 2020

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 10, March 8, 2020, Article 22

Jeremy Bostwick at Numismagram forwarded along these highlights from his most recent March upload of exonumia. In addition to the pieces below, this assortment includes a few other World War I related issues, a Franco-American 'Sinking of the Lusitania' medal, a gold love token with a musical twist, a lustrous and vibrant British award medal in the field of cooking, a couple types sure to delight any animal lover, and a stunning French railroad jeton, among others. Please visit numismagram.com/inventory for more. -Editor

100936 | GERMANY. Feminine Virtue silver Medal. Issued circa late 18th/early 19th century (38mm, 18.41 g, 12h). Possibly after C. Sucro. SCHWEIG STIL ZV HAVSE BLEIB (Peace will be had at home...), snail (representing tranquility) advancing left; flower below / MIT FLEIS DEIN ARBEIT TREIB (...with attention to one's domestic chores), three beehives, with bees (representing industriousness) swarming around. Edge: Plain. GPH –. Choice Very Fine. Lightly toned, with some darker hues near the peripheries; some central brilliance, though a number of marks are noted, as well as some light scratches around the snail. A highly interesting and very rare topical medal relating to domesticity. $575.

A rather stark reminder of the patriarchal society in which it was produced, this medal conveys the feminine virtue that is subservience and domesticity. Mainly, that a wife should remain industrious around the home with her chores in order to ensure domestic bliss and tranquility within the household. It would be nice to believe that we have progressed beyond this archaic establishment of gender roles and of the patriarchy, but one need not look far to see the inequalities that still exist in this area—as well as many others.

What an odd item. I don't recall seeing a snail on a medal before. Beehives are popular. Snails? Not so much. -Editor

101020 | GERMANY. Firefighter's oval silver Award Medal. Engraved 1893 and awarded to Max Faust for 25 years of service with the München (Munich) Firefighters (67x82mm, 150.69 g, 12h). By F. Widmann & L. Leigh. GOTT ZUR EHR DEM NÄCHSTEN ZUR WEHR (to the glory of God, to the defense of our neighbors), firefighter standing left at the top of ladder, operating hose and attempting to extinguish an inferno raging at the roof of building; cityscape in background / DIE STADTGEMEINDE MÜNCHEN FÜR 25 JÄHR DIENSTLEISTUNG IN D FREIWILLIGEN FEUERWEHR (for 25 years of service to the municipality of Munich as a volunteer firefighter), civic coat-of-arms of München; below, two decorative scrolls inscribed "1868–1893" and "MAX FAUST." Edge: A few light marks, otherwise plain. Hauser 719. Choice Mint State. Pleasing gray surfaces with an alluring iridescence highlighting the devices. $1,095.

Founded on 20 January 1891, this award was meant for volunteer members of the fire brigade in München following their 25 years of service. As such, Max Faust was one of the earlier recipients of the award, having served as a firefighter since before the Franco-Prussian War and the unification of Germany. A great representation of late 19th century firefighting attire and equipment.

The oval shape is unusual for a medal. Very cool. -Editor

101019 | GREAT BRITAIN & GERMANY. Destruction of the Zeppelin gold Award Medal. Issued 1916. Engraved and awarded to Gunner Trigwell for successfully downing a German Zeppelin (30mm, 13.42 g, 12h). By Mappin & Webb in Birmingham. GUNNER TRIGWELL, anti-aircraft gun left, being manned by a gunner, with barrel pointed toward "L15" representing the Zeppelin airships; below, banner reading WELL HIT MARCH 31st–APRIL 1st 1916 / PRESENTED BY THE LORD MAYOR / COLONEL SIR CHARLES WAKEFIELD, familial coat-of-arms of Wakefield. BHM –; Eimer –; Jones, Dance of Death, –; The Art of Devastation –; Barac –. Gem Mint State. Charming bronze-gold glazed surfaces, with some underlying brilliance and some light deposits from being in the original lunettes; clasp at the top. Very rare and interesting type. $975.

Zeppelin was a German general and aircraft manufacturer, who later founded the airship company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. During World War I, many of his airships were utilized in scouting missions and bombing campaigns, most notably in Britain where their bombings killed over 500 citizens. Following some of these raids, Colonel Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield—founder of the Castrol motor oil and lubricants company and also the Lord Mayor of London—offered a £500 prize to whoever shot down the first of these enemy airships. On the night of 31 March and into the following morning, a zeppelin raid ensued, and a Royal Artillery battery at Purfleet successfully hit and brought down an airship. As the War Office ruled that soldiers could not receive such compensation in the form of a monetary prize, Wakefield instead commissioned some 353 of these medals—struck in 9 carat gold—to be produced, engraved, and presented to gunners at the battery in honor of addressing the zeppelin threat.

I was unaware of these medals - a great item. -Editor

101056 | UNITED STATES. Hawai'i. Kalakaua Aluminum Centennial Dala Trial Strike. Issued 1982. (45x34mm, 12.09 g, 12h). Hawaiian Mint. KALAKAUA [I KING] OF HAWAII, bare head right / UA MAU KE EA O [KA AINA] I KA PONO / CENTENNIAL DALA, crowned and mantled coat-of-arms. Cf. KM (X) MB6 (for regular silver issue). Choice Mint State. Extremely lustrous and prooflike; a few scattered marks and hairlines. Interesting pre-production trial used in the aligning of the dies. $295.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the series of denominations struck in the name of King Kalakaua in 1883, the Hawaiian Mint struck a centennial ‘dala’ featuring a reprisal of the original design (with some slight modifications) and to the weight of one ounce of silver. Striking began for this commemorative output late in 1982, with 10,000 in total being produced. Before the initial early strikes were coined, however, the mint appears to have had a bit of fun while aligning the dies, striking a few random strips of aluminum with the design—accounting for this unusual, irregular, off-metal trial strike.

In 1974 Bernard von NotHaus and Talena (Telle) Jay Presley started The NotHaus Mint, which grew to become The Hawaiian Mint and was renamed the Royal Hawaiian Mint in 1986. Von Nothaus later created the Liberty Dollar and the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code (NORFED). -Editor

100983 | CZECHOSLOVAKIA. Zdenek Michael František Burian silver Medal. Issued 1984. Commemorating the Life of the Famous Painter, Illustrator, and Palaeoartist (40mm, 31.69 g, 12h). By L. Havelka. 1905 + 81 Z • BURIAN, bare head right / Tyrannosaurus Rex advancing right, head left. Edge: Plain. Choice Mint State. Highly lustrous with some golden-russet toning more noticeable on the obverse; a few light hairlines are mentioned merely for completeness. $295.

Born in 1905 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Zdenek Burian would come to play an important role in the development of palaeontological art and reconstruction. Through the government run Czechoslovakian publishing house, Artia, his work, especially on dinosaurs, reached a western audience beginning in the 1950's and 1960's, and offered a vivid, lifelike picture into the prehistoric world. It's hard to imagine the dinosaur "craze" of the 1980's and 1990's without him.

As a 1960s kid I carried around a big plastic disosaur for a long time. Dinos were definitely the "in" thing. -Editor