GIES: WWI Zepplines in London

cacheman

WVZ76 1915 ZEPPELINE IN LONDON, Cast bronze, 62.2mm, 51.1g. Incuse Reverse, As Cast. RRR.
Frankenhuise 1100, Kaiser 432. Provenance: Dr. S. Martin Collection>DixNoonen Auction M6, Lot 1330> Goodman Collection

Three Zeppelins on bombing mission over London with a bomb exploding on the shipping docks and a small group of people retreating to the left.

The German Expressionist had an obsession with death, the machinery of war, and, in Gies’ case, a fascination with modern weapons. For Gies though, these weapons raised a larger issue of the relation of man to machine. Many of his medals show the insignificance of man in the mechanization of war. Here Gies’ theme rests with the destructive power of the machine hovering over London destroying the city, seemingly without human intervention, by the strange cigar-shaped objects in the sky above. Do you remember the hovering alien spacecraft in the movie “Independence Day”? Same concept…but this was really happening.

Seven (7) are known to exist and are distributed as follows:

1 London Imperial War Museum
1 Munchen Staatliche Munzsammlung
1 Ramat Aviv, Kadman Numismatic Museum
1 Stuttgart Wurttembergisches Landesmuseum
1 Wein, Kunsthistorisches Museum
2 in private collections, with this example being one of those two.

coinkat

wow...

bidask

very interesting

1960NYGiants

A must have for the Zeppelin fanatics! Must have cost a pretty penny.

Garneteye

cacheman

<< <i>A must have for the Zeppelin fanatics! Must have cost a pretty penny. >>



It's wasn't as bad as you'd think...for the most part Gies is pretty much undiscovered with a very few competing for the available pieces. I predict the interest will explode in the next 5-10 years at which time my little collection of 18 examples so far might allow me to retire comfortably.

Hussulo

The design imo although crudely done, is very artistic and I like it. Great pick up cacheman.
Whats on the reverse is it blank? And are all his medals so rare?

theboz11

Very Nice!

cacheman

<< <i>The design imo although crudely done, is very artistic and I like it. Great pick up cacheman.
Whats on the reverse is it blank? And are all his medals so rare? >>



Crude was the point...it was a statement to throw out the classical foo-foo design style that the rest of the world, and in particular France, was using at the time. This the beginning of the Expressionists art movement.

The reverse is an incuse-reverse...which is essentially created by having two obverse moulds, one fitting inside the back of the other and facing the same direction as the finished surface then pouring the metal in. The medal appears as though it had been stamped from the rear but in actuality it has been cast.

Gies' Munich Period pieces were created for competitions by different schools and museums...very few were made and the museum pieces were usually ordered directly from the artist. In this case the five museums wanted a copy and he made the additional two others, perhaps for people willing to buy them at the time or perhaps as gifts. I have a number of his pieces that are unique, most are in issues of 2-3 pieces, and the rest <10 pieces....you aren't buying a struck commemorative medal here with an issue of 5-10,000...you are buying a hand made piece of art not unlike a very, very limited print edition.

Hussulo

Thanks for the info I can see why you think that interest in his work will explode in the next 5-10 years.

cacheman

Well, like Goetz, Gies was essentially undiscovered before the internet...you start exposing their work to the masses via the web and from it comes demand for a very finite number of available works...