101128 | FRANCE. Télégraphie sans Fil [Radio] Art Deco bronze Medal.

101128 | FRANCE. Télégraphie sans Fil [Radio] Art Deco bronze Medal. Issued 1927. The emergence of wireless or radio communication (99mm, 12h). By P. Dammann in Paris.

 

IRIS, Iris striding right among the clouds, head lowered, holding trident-headed scepter and streamers; in background, zodiacal band with Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn / View of the Earth, focused upon Europe and Africa, surrounded by hexagonal, segmented antennae, the bottom segment of which is emitting radio waves; stars in the background, T S F [Télégraphie sans Fil = telegraph without wires] below. Edge: «cornucopia» MONETA 28.

 

Jones, Art of the Medal, 423. Gem Mint State. Alluring bronze-brown surfaces, with a light matte nature. Likely one of the finest known of this small output in the larger (99mm) module, of which this is numbered (on the edge) as #28. One of the iconic and rarer Art Deco medallic works of the period.

 

Following the proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in 1887, a flurry of other scientific minds turned to a new medium for study—the "airwaves." Guglielmo Marconi's invention of the radio, for which he won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics, furthered what would become a rapidly growing industry during the first three decades of the 20th century, as communication now need not be reliant upon the connection of wires. Here, Dammann captures this novel technology and pairs it with another movement indicative of its era—the refined, elegant, and geometric artistry that embodies Art Deco.

 

Sorry, this item is no longer available.