The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals (Part I)

SPAIN, Manuel de Falla, 1950, a bronze medal by Anna Bass, bust left, rev. female performing a fire dance at right, kneeling naked male sorcerer utters incantations in front of the flames of a small fire, edge impressed bronze and cornucopia, 68mm, 170.17g (CGMP p.102; Monnaie Exh. Cat. 1965, 44; Niggl 622; cf. DNW 30, 743). Extremely fine, scarce £50-£70

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals.

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bt A.C. Eimer, May 2007

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) was a musician and native of Andalusia who lived mostly in Granada. One of his most successful ballets, El Amor Brujo [Love, the Sorcerer], composed in 1915 and based on the legends of the gypsies of Granada, included a piece known as the Ritual Fire Dance, the subject of the reverse of the medal. De Falla fled to Argentina at the outbreak of World War II, where he died in 1946; his image appears on many Spanish euro coins.