I saw this in my dealer's tray today and asked him about it. He didn't know anything other than it was some kind of WWI medal, from belgium. He offered it to me for $10. I usually pass on most exonumia, but something in this just called out and I had to have it, not even knowing anything about it. The first set of pics is with a flash and the second without the flash. After about 30 to 40 minutes of digging on the net I found out almost everything one needs to know. It is a Belgian medal, titled "American War Relief to Belgians" from 1914. Designed by Godefroid Devreese, the most prolific medal designer of his time doing 400 to 500+, it features the busts of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth on the obverse, and an allegorical scene of Lady Liberty giving grain to the hungry and reads American Generosity - Belgian Gratitude along with the year 1914. A relief ship is pictured in the background. If anyone has any other information on this piece, please let me know.
Wow ! Lemmee see now... $10 buys lunch for two at Taco Bell... ... or this really fabulous medal. Easy call ! Congrats, BQ !
Bravo! There is someithing about medals that appeal to me. Larger coins, larger designs, and many times rare compared to the usual mintages of regular coinage. Thanks for posting your new piece.
After more digging it turns out that in 1909 Mr. Devreese was named the Commemorative Medalist for 1910 for the American Numismatic Society. He ended up designing the medal obverse commemorating the French Numismatist Ernest Babelon, the reverse was designed by Rudolf Bosselt.
