Bidspirit auction | Austria: Adolf von Sonnenthal 70th

Austria: Adolf von Sonnenthal 70th birthday uniface plaque by Ede Telcs , 1904 , in bronze; size: 44 x 67.75mm; weight: 75.35g. The German legend reads that the plaque was issued in honor of Sonnenthal by the vice president of the Vienna Jewish Museum. Sonnenthal was an Austrian-Jewish actor in honor of whom numerous medals were made during his lifetime: the presentation of this medal to him by the Jewish museum rather than by a higher authority (in spite of Sonnenthal being accorded nobility by the emperor) was probably due to the anti-Semitism of the Viennese mayor, Karl Lueger (in 1896 the celebration of his fortieth anniversary was marred by the anti-Semitic feeling of the Vienna city council which refused to extend the freedom of the city to him). The medallist Telcs was a Hungarian-Jew , and became the official war medalist of the Austro-Hungarian empire during the First World War . This medal was one of five he presented to the Budapest Jewish Museum, and may therefore represent one of the most important works of his according to his own judgment . References: JMM-80 & 81, Forrer vol. 8 and Jewish Encyclopedia entry for Sonnenthal.