Lot 473

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Description:

ORIGINAL DESIGN DRAWINGS FOR THE KNIGHTS CROSS OF THE IRON CROSS AWARDS
Historic set of original pencil, ink, and watercolor drawings executed by graphic FRANZISKA KOBELL in the development of award documents given to recipients of the various Knights Cross awards given deserving German soldiers who exhibited exceptional valor in combat. The award was instituted on September 1, 1939 and Adolf Hitler ordered Prof. Gerdy Troost to design appropriate awards and presentation cases for his approval. He placed Troost in charge of assembling a design team and overseeing the project. Graphic artist Franziska Kobell was employed to design lettering and document borders, Franz and Hermann Wandinger were placed in charge of gilding, and bookbinder Frieda Thiersch was chosen to design and construct the document folders and presentation boxes ("cassettes"). This fine archive includes 15 separate sheets, averaging about 12" x 14" and bearing for the most part various designs for the borders of documents. Almost all incorporate a swastika in some form, usually repeating itself in the pattern. A few of the intricate sketches show the entire border of a document, and three sketches have been painstakingly hand-colored with watercolor paint. Much of the work has been done on graph paper in order to maintain symmetry in the designs. One of the pages bears notes on how some of the folders may have been made, indicating that only three stamps were needed to create the repeating border -- this would eliminate the need to create and entire page-sized die when only three different dies repeating themselves would suffice. The same page indicates that this design was intended to be used in the construction of a guest book for Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher: "Proof for Streicher Guest Book On Monday morning please...bring it to Otto. He should finish it by Wednesday afternoon...". Other notes concern blind-embossing, size reduction, and design changes, with some marginal notes concerning routine business matters. Finally, an octavo page with a baroque border is signed by FRIEDA THIERSCH beneath a whimsical quote written in Italian, French and German: "Malatesta d'un trompette etc.". Some of the patterns very closely approximate the final patterns used on Knights Cross award documents and cases, perhaps only a single line or two different. An intriguing assemblage which should be thoroughly researched. From the sale of Frieda Thiersch's estate, 2004. Sold with two copies of Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich, June and October, 1942, Franz Eher, Munich, containing articles on the Knights Cross award documents, cassettes, embossed leather cases, etc.

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September 10, 2013 11:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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