Watch List notes:

GERMANY. Empire. "Sinking of the Lusitania" Cast Pewter Medal, "1915" (ca. 1918/9). AS ISSUED.
53mm; 88.96 gms. Burns-4a (listed as currently unique). After K. Goetz. By Sandstrom & Mahood in Warren, PA. Obverse: The Lusitania sinking in heavy seas; Reverse: Skeleton (as Death) standing left within ticket booth; to left, queue of passengers, one of whom reads a newspaper. Edge: Light seam; otherwise plain. Virtually as made, this VERY RARE issue is a prototype to the seldom seen American copy. Its bizarre, highly stylized nature instantly sets it apart from everything else in the series--original or the later copies. Listed by Greg Burns in Commemoration of Death as "unique at this time" (2012).

Not long after the German warning against sea travel into her 'war zone' declared upon Great Britain, a popular liner--the RMS Lusitania--was torpedoed 11 miles off the coast of Ireland, where over 60% of her passengers, some of whom where Americans, were killed. Serving as a rallying cry against the German Empire, this action solidified American involvement in World War I.

German medalist Karl Goetz jumped at the opportunity to satirize these events, designing a medal which would become infamous. The idea of Death handing out the tickets to the eventual passengers--and victims--of Goetz's Germany did not sit well with Great Britain nor her soon-to-be official ally in the war efforts, the United States. Both made copies of this gruesome memento in order to remember the ignominious act and also raise funds for the victims' families.

Estimate: $150.00- $300.00