PDFPrintE-mail

Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”
Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”
Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”
Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”Austria: Boer War: Paul Kruger: “Hands Off”
Form: Circular
By: Anton Scharff / Franz Xaver Pawlik
Date: 1902
Ref:  AM: 117; Hern: 264; ME: Netherlands 11; Laidlaw: 0009b;
Variations:
SizeMetalMassValue
39.6 mmLight Bronze25.0 gm$200
39.6 mmBronze24.8 gm$200
39.5 mmLead25.1 gm$65
Edge: Plain.

Obverse: Bust of Paul Kruger, front and slightly to the left. In the field on the left, across: “PAUL / KRÜGER / PRESIDENT”, and on the right: “DER / ZUID / AFRIKAA[N]SCHE / REPUBLIEK 10.OCT. / 1825”. Signed: “A Scharff” on the left above the shoulder.

Reverse: Full figure of a standing Boer soldier with hat and bandoleer facing right in a mountainous landscape. He holds a flag standard in his right hand and with the left points to a slinking lioness, wounded on her side. Above to the right, text across within quotes: “HANDS OFF!” In the exergue: “1902”, to the right of which is a small shield showing a lamb facing left.

Notes: The medal was commissioned by Baron Bachofen von Echt, an Austrian sympathetic with the Boer cause. The small lamb on the reverse is from the von Echt coat of arms. The proceeds from the sale were to go towards the support of dependents of Boer soldiers killed or wounded in battle.

The medal was issued to coincide with the visit to Europe after the Boer War of Generals Koos de la Rey and Christiaan de Wet who, together General Louis Botha, sought to raise funds for restoring the devastation of the war.

The obverse has been taken from Anton Scharff’s original 1900 “ANN DE DAPPERE STRIJDERS” medal. The reverse was probably engraved by his protégé Franz Xaver Pawlik.

Franz Xaver Pawlik was born in Vienna on Aug 2, 1865 and died there from consumption (old name for tuberculosis) on Aug 8, 1906. He attended the Academy of Decorative Arts in Vienna and studied under Tautenhayn and Schwartz. He was an Assistant Medallist at the Vienna Mint beginning in 1867. He succeeded Anton Scharff as chief engraver at the Vienna mint after Scharff's death in 1903.

The lead medal is probably a rare trial strike, and interestingly the date: “1902” does not appear on the reverse exergue.