102327 | GERMANY. Italy's Wavering Alliances cast iron Medal.

102327  |  GERMANY & ITALY. Italy's Wavering Alliances cast iron Medal. Issued 1915 (73mm, 89.32 g, 12h). By H. Lindl.

 

VORBEREITUNG ZUM EINTRITT IN DEN WELTKREIG, skeleton standing right, sharpening saber upon whetstone // D'ANNUNZIO BEGEISTERT ITALIEN ZUM KRIEG, D'Annuzio, in top hat and tails, standing right upon clouds, holding saber and speaking to the masses acclaiming below. Edge: Minor casting flaw as made in one spot, otherwise plain.

 

Klose –; The Art of Devastation –; Frankenhuis 1508. PCGS MS-62. Charcoal gray surfaces, with a great matte nature. A very rare and haunting World War I-related satirical issue, and the only such example of the type in the PCGS census. A great analog to Eberbach's "Totentanz" series, issued contemporaneously and in a similar size, but far less encountered in the market.

 

Following five years living abroad in France, the famed Italian poet, Gabrielle D'Annunzio, returned to Italy in the spring of 1915, whereupon he began urging his homeland to join the cause not with the Central Powers, as Italy had fought, but with the Allied Powers. D'Annunzio's passions spread, even causing riots, with Antonio Salandra, the Italian Prime Minister, leading Italy back into the war with her former enemy.

 

Upload: 20 October 2023.