102706 | GERMANY. "Count not the Dead" cast bronze Medal.

102706 | GERMANY. "Count not the Dead" cast bronze Medal. Issued 1917 (71mm, 89.23 g, 12h). By C. Ebbinghaus.

 

LЄBЄ DROBЄN O VATЄRLAND UND ZAЄHLЄ NICHT DIЄ TOTЄN / DIR IST LIЄBЄS NICHT ЄINЄR ZU VIЄL GЄFALLЄN ("live on high, o fatherland, and do not count the dead! For you, sweet one, not one too many has died!", —taken from Der Tod fürs Vaterland by Friedrich Hölderlin), head of Germania left, wearing Stahlhelm // DЄN GЄFALLЄNЄN ZUM GЄDAЄCHTNIS (to the memory of the fallen), sword thrust downward into ground. Edge: Plain.

 

Klose –; The Art of Devastation –. About Uncirculated. Deep black-green surfaces, with some scattered deposits. Very rare.

 

Ex Virgil M. Brand Collection (Coin Galleries [15 April 1992], lot 1598 [part of]).

 

A type not often encountered, this example deviates from most of the more celebratory works of German medallic art during World War I, in that it acknowledges loss and serves as a lamentation upon the death that has occurred. Nevertheless, it still seeks to find an uplifting nature through noble sacrifice for the greater good.

 

This very rare type also emanates from the prestigious collection of Virgil M. Brand, who amassed a collection of over 350,000 items. This piece has been off the market since 1992, the only time at which it has sold, as it had remained within the Brand family even following his untimely death in 1926.

 

Upload: 15 February 2024.

 

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