SOLD

K-280

Housing shortage
(Wohnungsnot 1921)

1921, Cast bronze, Satirical medal, 58.7mm, 63.60g. Hand-filed edge.

Obverse:  The housing commissioner checks for living quarters to place a large family looking for accommodations. Coming to the toilet (AB) he says, "Was, auch hier noch ein Wohnraum" (What, even here another living space). The pregnant mother with her three children stand helplessly by; the husband has an angry look.

Reverse:  A crowded room with a three-decked bunk. The mother and father are sleeping in the lower bunk, two sisters in the second bunk. A young boy has climbed down from the top bunk by candlelight to pee in a chamber pot as one sister watches. A baby sleeps in a chest of drawers bottom drawer, a kitten on the floor next to the baby's feet, another baby sleeps in a basket placed under the table with "K•G" below. Dated, 1921.

Goetz at his best.  Housing was tight at the time and Goetz did his best to satirize the situation.

Grade: VZ

SOLD