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WHY I LIKE THIS MEDAL An article which originally appeared in The Historical Medal Journal No.4 (May 2022)
Obverse: Man in
traditional Bosnian costume standing with a donkey Reverse:
Train
crosses an aqueduct and enters a tunnel, incuse legend FRANCISCVS JOS I IMP
ET REX BOSNIAM RAGVSEO LITORI FERREA VIA CONIVNXIT MCMI in five lines below
(King and Emperor Franz Joseph I joined the Ragusa coast with Bosnia by
railway 1901) Bronze,
Rectangular 60x44mm, by Rudolf Marschall dated 1903 References:
Moyaux 423; Forrer unlisted I acquired this medal last year even though it’s
neither within my areas of medal collecting nor did I intend to resell it
commercially. It was a treat all for myself: in common with any collector, I
simply ‘had to have it’. As a bonus, it seems to be rare. The medallist,
Rudolf Marschall (1873-1967) was Austrian and had a prolific medallic output
judging by Forrer – but this medal is not listed by him and internet searches
have thrown up very little. According to Moyaux, the medal is rare because
when Emperor Franz Joseph saw the first examples struck, he ordered
production to cease. The reason being that he feared the depiction of the
donkey would lead to unfavourable remarks about him, which seems to show a
very thin skin! There are many collectors of medals that depict or
relate to railways, and no doubt most of the medal’s potential admirers will
be drawn to it for this reason (and this is the reason it is catalogued in
Moyaux). The medal celebrates the completion in 1901 of the railway which
linked the port of Dubrovnik (the historic Ragusa) with its Bosnian
hinterland. The line was some 125 miles long and this medal was struck two
years later. However railways do not interest me; for me it’s the
obverse that drew me in. The evocation of the image is such that in my
imagination it could be taken from a large scale painting by a famous
Victorian artist. The obverse depicts a Bosnian man in traditional dress
leading his faithful pack mule across the mountains, a view towards the
Adriatic in the distance beyond. This represents the old traditional way of
life and travel, contrasting sharply with the reverse, which depicts the
modern world at the start of the 20th century, the coming of the railway
and the fast interconnectedness it brings with it. The contrast is between
the old and the new, the slow and fast, tranquillity and noise. It is a world
in which pack mules or donkeys are redundant. Of course, to modern minds, mention of Bosnia
recalls the tragedy which befell Bosnia-Herzegovina during the break-up of
Yugoslavia in the 1990s, to say nothing of the siege and shelling of
Dubrovnik. We might also think of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination at
Sarajevo in 1914. However to my mind, this medal recalls happier times when
the Balkans retained an air of exotic mystery in the eyes of western
Europeans. The broader point of this brief article is that we
should not necessarily be narrow in scope when adding to our collections. If
we see a medal we cannot resist, the time to buy it is when we first see it. Reference Moyaux,
Auguste, Les Chemins de Fer autrefois
et aujourd'hui et leurs médailles commemoratives (Brussels 1905) Note The translation of the Latin to English is my own
‘free’ translation and relies heavily on distant foundations laid at school. Copyright Charles Riley 2022 |
