The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals

NETHERLANDS, Women’s Island, 1995, a cast bronze three-dimensional medal by G. Hellegers, abstract design both sides, 97 x 80 x 37mm, 253.06g (The Medal 29, p.138). Extremely fine, as made £60-£80

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

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This medal is an expression of freedom. During the depression of the 1930s, Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman (1882-1945), owner of a printing press in Groningen, printed more and more free compositions for lack of commissions. During the war years, while making many forged documents for the underground movement, he sought refuge in his stencil prints, of which one of the most famous series is Women’s Island: idyllic pictures with women, horses and palms, the inspiration for this piece. Werkman himself was executed by a Gestapo firing squad on 29 April 1945, three days before Groningen was liberated.