GOETZ: K-590 Ernst Udet

[Goetzdude]

From a German Family collection begun before 1900, they had coins from the second half of the 19th c., this, and ten other Goetz pieces were acquired. All material is as original as the day it was placed into the collection with the exception of a lovely added "skin" to the pieces from their age. I acquired both cast and struck pieces from 1905 up to this WWII piece which has never been available in silver among auctions that I am aware of for the past 20 years. White metal/zinc, yes, but not silver. I will post the other pieces as time allows.

 

 

1941, Struck Silver, 36mm., edge stamped: BAYERN.HAUPTMUENZAMT. SILVER 900f., Stmpl. RRR

 

 

For more information on this very colorful guy you can begin reading here:

[frank]

Very cool, as usual Goetzdude. What's the plane that Udet has shot down --British Spitfire? anyone know?

[Goetzdude]

Very cool, as usual Goetzdude. What's the plane that Udet has shot down --British Spitfire? anyone know?

 

 

Hi Frank, The two planes are what Udet flew in the two separate wars. WWI he was flying the FOKKER DR.1 TRI-PLANE and then he tested and then tried to get the Luftwaffe to accept and use the Junkers JU-87 "Stuka" divebombers at the beginning of WWII.

 

That's what's neat about collecting medals, I would have never known this if I didn't buy and collect the medal.

[frank]

lol ...I thought the medal showed the triplane downing the other, but of course that would be an unequal fight --the Fokker vs. the Stuka (which I should have recognized with its bent wings). thanks for the right answer!

[Art]

Beautiful medal and a wonderful find for your collection.

[bill]

What lovely toning and history behind the collection. I had the opportunity years ago (1973) to inspect and talk about a family collection from Munich. The family had fled Munich after the war. They had been wealthy, but the best elements of their coin collection (gold, sliver, early coins) had been sold to survive in Germany. What they retained was their collection of Goetz medals. I was invited to talk about the collection on an afternoon local talk show on TV. I even managed to slip in the "Watch on the Rhine" piece on camera without the newscaster realizing what it was. When I think about what the family retained versus what the collection was like before it was broken up to survive the hyper inflation of the 1920s, wow! Great piece. The stories that sit behind so many of these medals and their own personal histories.

[Goetzdude]

What lovely toning and history behind the collection. I had the opportunity years ago (1973) to inspect and talk about a family collection from Munich. The family had fled Munich after the war. They had been wealthy, but the best elements of their coin collection (gold, sliver, early coins) had been sold to survive in Germany. What they retained was their collection of Goetz medals. I was invited to talk about the collection on an afternoon local talk show on TV. I even managed to slip in the "Watch on the Rhine" piece on camera without the newscaster realizing what it was. When I think about what the family retained versus what the collection was like before it was broken up to survive the hyper inflation of the 1920s, wow! Great piece. The stories that sit behind so many of these medals and their own personal histories.

 

 

Here is what my "middle man" had to say when I asked him about the provenance of the 12 pieces I bought.

 

I bought those pieces several years ago from a young lady who got these pieces from her grandmother before she died. She had all these Goetz pieces as well as coins from the Kaiserreich as well as some war medals. (I bought everything).

The interesting thing is that this old lady lived in a small village in the "Spessart" (this is a forest area with a lot of small villages) which used to be a very "poor" area where people earned their living with farming.

 

We then did a little bit of a research, because I did not really understand why a farmer would collect such pieces of art. We found out that this "grandmother" originally came from Miltenberg (a small town in Bavaria) and her familly seemed to be fairly rich. She apparently met this farmer, fell in love with him, married him and moved to the "Spessart" area. Most probably, she received those pieces from her parents. It is therefore possible, that those pieces have been in this familly from the very beginning. This can, however, not be confirmed as I have no more contact with the lady, where I bought those pieces.

 

Yesterday, I have tried to contact her but it seems that she was divorced about two to three years ago and she has moved to some other place.

Anyway, I think it is quite an interesting story. Knowing that Miltenberg belongs to Bavaria since 1814 (before it belonged to Mainz), I could really imagine that the parents of this old lady have bought and collected those pieces from a well known "Bavarian medal designer" in the early 2oth century. This would eventually also explain the incredibly good condition of those pieces.

 

I think that this is the entire information I can give you about those pieces.

 

I will show more of these medals in the next week or so. S