NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: OCTOBER 5, 2025

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 40, 2025, Article 17

Numismagram's Jeremy Bostwick sent along these four medals from his most recent upload of new spooky material to his site. For all of the new items, please visit https://www.numismagram.com/inventory. -Garrett

102972 | GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN, CHINA & JAPAN. Satire of Kiauchau bronze Medal. Issued 1914. The Defense of Jiaozhou (Kiauchau/Kiautschou) (33mm, 16.59 g, 12h). Crowned eagle (representing Germany) perched in oak tree; to lower left, British officer sending monkey (dressed in Japanese uniform) up the tree in which three other bodies hang lifeless // DER / ENGLÄNDER / UND SEIN JAPANER / "JETZT KLETTRE DU MAL / AUF DIE DEUTSCHE EICHE / UND VERSUCHE, / OB DU IHM NICHT EINE / FEDER AUS DEM SCHWANZ / REISSEN KANNST!" (The Englishman to his Japanese pet: "climb up this oak and see if you can pluck a feather from the eagle's tail!") in nine lines. Edge: Plain. Cf. Zetzmann 4062 (silver). PCGS MS-63. Tan-brown surfaces, with a few stains on the reverse. A very haunting and rare type, made that much more desirable on account of its great state of preservation. $985.

Jiaozhou, an important and strategic naval location, became the focus of German interests at the end of the 19th century, and a 99-year lease was signed with the Qing Dynasty for its use by the German Empire. This lease continued after the fall of the former and during the period of its successor, the Republic of China, until the outbreak of World War I, at which point, the Japanese Empire delivered an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that it relinquish control of the region. This ultimatum was rejected, whereupon Japan began a bombardment of the territory, ultimately resulting in their seizure of Jiaozhou. It was eventually returned to Chinese control in 1922, but was again occupied by the Japanese during World War II.

103199 | GERMANY, FRANCE, GREAT BRITAIN & OTTOMAN EMPIRE. "The Lunatics in Gallipoli" cast bronze Medal. Dated 1916 (55mm, 67.11 g, 12h). By Karl Goetz in München. DIE / MONDSÜCH / TIGEN • AUF / GALLIPOLI (the lunatics in Gallipoli), British soldier advancing right and holding ship, and French soldier kneeling right and taking aim with rifle; Ottoman crescent to right // The same two men, now lifeless and reduced to skeletons, lying upon an empty battlefield; Ottoman star and crescent above. Edge: Plain. Kienast 169; Klose –; The Art of Devastation –; Frankenhuis 1460; Böttcher Coll. 5470. PCGS MS-61. Pleasing brown surfaces, with lighter highlights and a few hints of green. $795.

Here, Goetz pokes rather morbid fun at the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, in which, as described in The Art of Devastation, "...the Royal Navy attempted to force the straits of the Dardanelles resulting in the humiliating loss of several warships. First Sea Lord John Fischer eventually called off the attempt. Ultimately, the failed Gallipoli campaign led to his resignation and to the resignation of his superior the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill." Goetz punningly refers to them as lunatics on account of their utter failure, utilizing the crescent moon iconography of the Ottoman Empire to full effect.

103033 | BELGIUM. "Religion and Humanity—or the Apocalypse" cast bronze Medal. Issued circa 1932/3 (70mm, 125.03 g, 12h). By Josuë Dupon for the Société Royale Les Amis de la Médaille d'Art, and struck by Fonson. TUTI QUOS SERVAT (safe are those who are guarded), Life: manus Dei emerging left from cloud, cradling two putti and protecting them from hissing coiled serpent below // Death: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; above, rayed Eye of Providence above clouds with inscription AD VITAM ÆTERNAM (to eternal life); below, skeleton lying left on groundline; in two lines in exergue, SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MVNDI (thus passes the glory of the world). Edge: J.FONSON. Buchet & Toussaint 61. Choice Mint State. Olive-brown surfaces. Rare, with an issue of just 367 pieces in bronze. $275.

Produced by the Friends of Medallic Art in Belgium, this powerful piece paints two drastically different, yet related, pictures. In the first, the manus Dei (hand of God) is seen protecting two cherubim from the evilness of the serpent below. In the other, the supine skeleton represents the only earthly remains of the faithful, as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse fly above and the devoted follower's passage into heaven is alluded to through the divine Eye.

102069 | NETHERLANDS. "Looking at Time 2" cast bronze Medal. Issued 1990 (71mm, 201.55 g, 12h). By the Auguralis group. Serpent coiled left around egg; outward-facing skull to left and right // kijken naar tijd 2 / panta rhei (p??ta ?e?, "everything flows," –adapted from Heraclitus), lemniscate shape, representing infinity. Edge: "1" stamped at the top. De Beeldennar (Jan/Feb 1991), p. 273. As Cast. Black surfaces, with great relief and some glossiness. Incredibly rare, with an output of just 5 pieces, and with this being the first. $325.

From a series of Dutch modern art medals, somewhat similar to the former Society of Medalists series in the United States and BAMS series in the United Kingdom, this entrant from 1990 considers the idea of the passage of time—a very modern take on the concept of vanitas or a memento mori. The egg represents birth or the creation of life, while the serpent—that of its winding journey, and the skull—that of death or the end of the journey. Similarly, this concept is reiterated on the reverse, with a nod to the Heraclitus phrase, p??ta ?e?, or "everything flows." In the middle is a lemniscate shape, representing the seemingly endless, infinite, and somewhat entropic aspect of individual journeys in life.