102096 | GERMANY & GREAT BRITAIN. Sir Edward Grey cast iron Medal.

102096  |  GERMANY & GREAT BRITAIN. Sir Edward Grey cast iron Medal. Issued circa 1915/6. On Grey's "obligation of honour" to France and Belgium (56mm, 52.84 g, 12h). By E. Otto for Gladenbeck & Son in Berlin.

 

DATVM EST EI OS LOQVENS MAGNA ET BLASPHEMIAS (it was given a mouth from which to speak haughty and blasphemous words...), three-headed winged mythical beast rearing left; in two lines in exergue, QVIS SIMILIS / BESTIÆ (...who is this that acts so beastly? —adapted from Revelation 13:5) / SIR EDWARD GREY above a quill. Edge: DS 66 6.

 

Klose –; Art of Devastation – (though cf. 7513.15202.1.a in the Society's collection); Steguweit 143. Mint State. Graphite gray surfaces, with a light matte nature. A very rare and interesting type from a lesser-seen World War I satirical series.

 

Sir Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, served as British Foreign Secretary from 1905-1916, convincing the cabinet that a declaration of war against Germany was necessary as an "obligation of honour" to an alliance with France and a previous pledge that Belgium would not be invaded. Here, Otto presents Grey's Britain, along with France and Belgium, as a three-headed monster against his native Germany. He also draws inspiration from the Book of Revelation with the obverse legend, as well as a fairly close mimicking of an extremely rare 1687 Dutch medal on Pierre Jurieu, a 17th century leader in the French Protestant movement.

 

Sorry, this item is no longer available.