Austria: Boer War: de Wet & de la Reij: “Hands Off"

Form:

Circular

By:

Anton Scharff / Franz Xaver Pawlik / Vienna Mint, Austria

Date:

1902

Ref:

AM: 103; Hern: 232; ME: Netherlands 11; Laidlaw: 0009a;

Variations:

Size	Metal	Mass	Value
39.5 mm	Silver	29.6 gm	$480
39.5 mm	Copper Bronze	24.6 gm	$360
39.4 mm	Yellow Bronze	24.3 gm	$360

Edge:

Plain

Obverse:

On the left, the bust of General de Wet, front and turned slightly to the right, name across on left: “CHRISTIAN / DE WET”. On the right, the bust of General de la Reij wearing a hat, front and turned to the left, name across on right: “KOOS / DE LA / REIJ”. Near the rim at 5 o’clock, the monogram: “AS” of Anton Scharff.

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 devastations of the war.

Both sides of this medal were also used on the reverse of medals having the bust of Paul Kruger on the obverse taken Scharff’s original 1900 “ANN DE DAPPERE STRIJDERS” medal.

This medal is usually attributed to Anton Scharff but it seems more likely that it was 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.