103069 | GERMANY & UNITED STATES. U-Boats in America cast bronze Medal.

103069  |  GERMANY & UNITED STATES. U-Boats in America cast bronze Medal. Dated 1916. "Ränkeschmiede bei der Arbeit"—on the media controversy surrounding the submarine war and the role of the Reuters news agency (57mm, 63.37 g, 12h). By Karl Goetz in München.

 

RÆNKE–SCHMIEDE BEI DER ARBEIT (provocateurs at work), Frenchman and Brit each with an arm around Uncle Sam (with the features of US president Woodrow Wilson), pointing out a u-boat at a distance to right; American flag in foreground to right // DEUTSCHE U BOOTE IN AMERIKA 7 OKT 1916, telegraph pole surmounted by janiform head with caricatured, antisemitic features, and from which wires curl in stylized letter forms of "D" and "B" (for Deutsche Boote) and "Reuter Gezeter" (for the Reuter clamor). Edge: Plain.

 

Kienast 185. Mint State. Olive-brown surfaces. A rarer type that captures the caricatured and sometimes quite demeaning aspect of those who draw the ire of Goetz. In this instance, the Jewish-founded Reuters new agency for which Goetz feels sensationalized the German u-boat. Compare to a similar example, graded NGC MS-64, which realized a total of $840 in Heritage's showcase auction 61366, lot 23122.

 

On 7 October 1916, the German u-boat, U-53, arrived in Narragansett Bay along with its three hour call at Newport. Here, Goetz represents the response in the English media as sensationalizing, trying to draw America into the war effort against Germany. What is now the Reuters news corp was begun by Paul Julius Reuter, born Jordan Beer Josaphat, and was based in England. Given that Reuter was Jewish, Goetz takes the opportunity to paint a caricatured, antisemitic picture, which also serves as a foreshadowing of sentiments to come in the following decades in Germany.

 

Upload: 15 April 2025.