NEWP: 1890 Helgoland Medal

Zohar

1890. Germany. Medal Commemorating the Acquisition of the Island of Helgoland. Silver, 38 mm. The medal features on the obverse the bust of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The reverse has a woman in the air with a cape made from a German Flag overlooking the island.

Iosephus

Nice looking medal with an interesting design!

harasha

Of course, you might want to think of a theme for starting a collection. Who is the artist?

Another possibility would be German colonials, I'm thinking.

jdmern

Beautiful medal!

SaorAlba

For a little background, Helgoland was a British possession from 1807-1890, Germany really didn't care for having a foreign power control a small island off it's coast. In fact during the opening days of WWI and WWII there were naval clashes in the area involving the British and Germans.



Beautiful medal.

Stork

Medals are an insidious and addictive collectible. First it's just one or two, then whole themes emerge,and next thing you know there are dozens and hundreds all over the place. From a single beautiful medal you can end up with German leaders, Politics, Islands, flags, The Artist, sunrise/sunsets, Flying Women, or Dudes With Mustaches. That is a very nice one of course, with an interesting story to tell--and most medals have some kind of story.

worldcoinguy

Stork - agree completely!



Dudes with mustaches would be an excellent registry set theme.

worldcoinguy

Zohar already has the "dudes with wigs" category covered with his Hapsberg collection.

lordmarcovan

Oh-, my. That reverse is simply stunning, even if the lady thereon looks a little like she saw the sun, thought it was a small brush fire, and leapt in the air, waving a blanket with which to smother it.



Seriously, though, I love it.



PS- I totally agree with Stork about the insidiously slippery slope which medals present. I find them catching my eye ever more often these days. Never considered the "Dudes with Mustaches" theme, though.

brg5658

Truly beautiful design. Congrat Zohar.

-Brandon

bronzemat

Very nice, love the reverse.

theboz11

Very nice Medal, They do grow on you don't they??