An interesting design, but..........

[cpm9ball]

.........when was it made?

Five women are portrayed on one side with the date, 1839, at the bottom. It was probably struck, then, because the date is a raised part of the design as opposed to being engraved. However, the other side of the medal portraying two women is dated 1914 at the bottom. It, too, is a raised part of the design. So, I ask you again, when was this medal made?

Both of these designs are 75 years apart, so it would seem improbable that the same artist produced both of them. The "1914" side, designed by Alphonse Mauquoy, bears his name and his stylized initials. He was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1880, and he eventually went to work in his father's engraving shop. Mauquoy was not an engraver, but he was a talented sculptor.

It isn't uncommon to see the designs of two medallists "mated" together to form one medal. We see this today in some of our U.S. coinage - Weinman's obverse design of the Walking Liberty half dollar was mated to Gasparro's reverse design of the Kennedy half dollar to create the American Eagle bullion coin.

It is likely that Mauquoy wanted to convey his desire for neutrality in World War I, and that is why he chose to use the 1839 design with his 1914 design. We all know that Belgium wasn't neutral in World War I, and we are still left wondering when the medal was made. Fortunately, Mauquoy gave us the answer on the 1839 side. Just to the right of the date, he had his name engraved into the medal with the year, 1920, beneath it.

So, it appears that Mauquoy's plea for neutrality did not pertain to World War I since the medal was produced after it ended, but for any future conflict that may arise. Alphonse Mauquoy died in Antwerp in 1954, and he would have to relive the horror of a world war once again.

Chris

[regandon]

Thanks for posting this medal and the interesting write-up.