103031 | GERMANY. Fidgety Wilhelm cast bronze Medal.

103031  |  GERMANY. Fidgety Wilhelm cast bronze Medal. Dated 1920 "Zappelphilipp"—on the consequences of militarism (59mm, 74.11 g, 12h). By Karl Goetz in München.

 

WILHELM, DAS MISSFÄLLT MIR / SEHR! (Wilhelm, that displeases me a great deal!), Otto von Bismarck (as the father), Germania (as the mother), and Wilhelm II (as the fidgety son, or "Zappelphilipp"), all seated around a kitchen table; Wilhelm teeters on his chair, marked MILITARISMUS; on the table rests a three-tiered cake which reads SACHS / BAYERN / PREUSSEN and a Rheinish wine with a German eagle for its stopper // NUN IST WILHELM, GANZ VERSTECKT, UND DER TISCH IST AB– / GEDECKT– / SUNKEN VERGESSEN (now Wilhelm is completely hidden and the table is covered, sunken, forgotten), the same table from the obverse is now uncovered, reading KRIEGSSTEUERN / BOLSCHE-WISMUS / STAATSBANKEROTT (war taxes, Bolshevism, national bankruptcy); the contents of said table on the floor, with Wilhelm hidden under the tablecloth, the cake toppled and the wine bottle broken. Edge: Plain.

 

Kienast 256. Choice Mint State. Olive-brown surfaces.

 

Zappelphilipp is a term coined by Heinrich Hoffmann in his 1845 children's book Der Struwwelpeter. It conveyed the idea of a restless, fidgety, and hyperactive child. In this context, Goetz displays the former Kaiser Wilhelm II as the fidgety child who has cost his nation everything. The father and mother of the hyperactive Wilhelm are that of Otto von Bismarck and a female personification of Germany. Wilhelm's militarism is seen as the downfall of the nation of various states that only half a century prior had come together as one.

 

Upload: 2 December 2024.