A Tidy, Little Gies Site

cacheman

Hi All, Spent the better part of the weekend throwing together this little web site to show off the Gies medals from WWI. This is essentially a digital recreation of my ANA Best of Show exhibit with all the needed text and information.

Let me know what you think.

LUDWIG GIES: Cast Art Medals from the Great War

harasha

Online references always are welcome. However, I was confused, at first, by the "Retreat" and "Advance" mechanism.

Preussen

Great site with some beautiful and historic medals; Thanks for sharing, and congrats on the award. -Preussen

p.s. I think the "Advance" and "Retreat" feature is entirely appropriate and a very nice touch

Stork

Wow! What an effort--thanks for posting

Cathy

Silvereagle82

Thanks for putting this togetherand sharing it with us! Really enjoyed it .... great job !!

determined

Very cool site! Good pictures and good info! Excellent work! I had never heard of Gies before. Thanks for posting it.

I also like the "Advance" and "Retreat" buttons.

One suggestion -

When I got to the end of the War Themes I had to keep hitting my back button, or Retreat, to get back to the home page. A home page link at the bottom of the pages would be convenient. But it's not a big deal.

cacheman

One suggestion -

When I got to the end of the War Themes I had to keep hitting my back button, or Retreat, to get back to the home page. A home page link at the bottom of the pages would be convenient. But it's not a big deal.

Hi, I just checked the "retreat" button on the last war theme and it does take you back to the home page. The maximum number of clicks to get back to home is two. I assume you were probably stuck waiting for my crappy ISP server to respond. I intend on placing this mini-site into my Goetz website to speed things up. At the same time I'll probably add some of the other Munich Schoolers such as Eberbach, Lindl, and von Esseo to the mix.

Thanks to all...

Iosephus

Very nice site and presentation! I'm amazed at the consistent rarity of these medals.

determined

<< <i>One suggestion -

When I got to the end of the War Themes I had to keep hitting my back button, or Retreat, to get back to the home page. A home page link at the bottom of the pages would be convenient. But it's not a big deal.

Hi, I just checked the "retreat" button on the last war theme and it does take you back to the home page. The maximum number of clicks to get back to home is two. I assume you were probably stuck waiting for my crappy ISP server to respond. I intend on placing this mini-site into my Goetz website to speed things up. At the same time I'll probably add some of the other Munich Schoolers such as Eberbach, Lindl, and von Esseo to the mix.
>>





Ah, OK. I was actually using the back button on my mouse. I just assumed the Retreat button would take the same number of clicks. But it takes you right back. That's a well thought out feature!

I didn't have a problem with your server. It seemed pretty quick to me.

cacheman

Very nice site and presentation! I'm amazed at the consistent rarity of these medals.

With them being seen only at regional medal competitions most examples were created by special order for either museums or, on occasion, an art patron with a few extra marks They are essentially individual sculpture pieces with some being cast by the artist and others cast by Poellath foundry. This is just one of the Munich School attributes that defined their work and philosophy from those of the Berlin School.

JoesMaName

Nicely done cacheman.

Very artistically presented, an obvious labor of love.

oldshep

Scott - Once again I am amazed and impressed with your professionalism in your presentation. The layout is simple and very effective. The 'advance. retreat' feature is in keeping with the theme.
Well done

Shep

Hussulo

Excellent site cacheman and congratulations on building up such a fine collection of rarities.

zeebob

A very interesting site indeed.

spoon

Absolute quality, though I'm sure most of us have grown to expect nothing less from you

Man, after spending 3 years in Stuttgart I'm still kicking myself for not spending more time browsing their Münzkabinett. Most of the display was on the third floor of the Altes Schloss, though some items were scattered in other areas. But it was a great display throughout. I don't remember, however, seeing any medals from this period on the floor, probably all in archives - though that could just be my memory...

Scott, do you have any info on the folks who commissioned these works? Are there any patterns to the buyers (considering the political and social environment of the time)? I find the birth medals especially fascinating. It seems a touch morbid to commemorate a birth by the year of war by our current liberal sensibilities.

Again, congrats on another job well done!

cacheman

Yeah, I wasn't even aware of Gies when I was in Germany the last time. I was on a mission to gather anything of Goetz and also brought back about 100lbs of medal reference books that could only be found over there. I need to go back soo I think.

I don't have a lot of information regarding the sales records for Gies. I do know that he was quite popular in Munich from 1914 until he left for Berlin in 1918. The competitions and medal shows were his best venue for people to see his work but there were also a couple of dealers who placed his works in their medal catalogs. One was Jacque Schulmann and the other was M. Frankenhuis. Frankenhuis had quite a collection (he collected of medals, documents of the late Great European War) and he compiled a catalog: CATALOGUE OF Medals, Medalets and Plaques RELATIVE TO THE WORLD WAR- 1914-1919. He sold this collection to the London Imperial War Museum in 1919. Anyway, people could buy out of these catalogs but there are no records showing what was sold.

I did find a reference letter from a young lady, written to her sister in Austria, that she had met the artist and secured an example of the "Excitment of War" medal...at a direct discount from the artist. Unfortunately, when the packet containing the medal was inspected at the German/Austrian border, it was confiscated because the medal had been banned. I am still working on the translation of the entire letter to garner more info.

Talk about kicking yourself....I'm pissed because I was stupid in not taking a foreign language while getting my undergraduate degree. It would have been German that was offered too. With 99% of research material in German, it makes it very difficult to get the info you need without having someone proficient in the language working with you and having the same interests.

Lynch

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Well, if you say so...

Excellent material and exquisitely presented.