An interview with the curators of two newWWI numismatic exhibitionsShailendra Bhandare, AssistantKeeper, Heberden Coin Room,Ashmolean Museum and TomHockenhull, Curator of ModernMoney, British Museum

Can you give a broad overview of your exhibition and how itfits (or doesn't) into how your museum is approaching WWI?

TH. As part of the centenary commemorations for theoutbreak of the First World War, the British Museum isexamining the German experience through a display ofmedals made by artists who lived and worked in Germanyduring the war. Emerging art movements such asexpressionism were adapted to the form of the medal,whilst artists also looked to Germany's past, blendingmedieval and Renaissance styles. Expressive and sometimesprovocative, they document the realities of the conflict fromboth an historical and an emotional perspective. 2014 alsomarks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall andthe 300th anniversary of the Hanoverian succession, and thedisplay coincides with a whole year of Germany-relatedevents and exhibitions at the British Museum.

SB. The special exhibition to commemorate the First WorldWar in the 'Money' Gallery at the Ashmolean covers thetheme in three components - a case with objects and twographic panels.

What are the themes around which the gallery display isstructured?

TH. Occupying ten cases in the Coins and Medals changingdisplays gallery (Room 69a), the exhibition groups themedals not chronologically but by such themes as war onland, war at sea and war at home. This latter sectionfeatures some of the most poignant works, including LudwigGies' Refugees.

Three hunched figures, one clutching a kettle which isperhaps their sole remaining possession, flee the Russianinvasion of East Prussia in September 1914. A number ofGerman artists revived the medieval Dance of Death motif,in which skeletal figures indiscriminately drag the living totheir demise. It was decided to make this a major theme ofthe exhibition and several medals, such as Hans Lindl's Waron Land and Sea, were chosen with this in mind.

Lindl's work mixes medieval and modern themes by showingGerman soldiers dressed in old fashioned armour. Theirunrealistically long lances appear vulnerable against thehuge sword-wielding figure of Death. Meanwhile, the centralcase in the display, designed to catch the eye of the passingvisitor, features a German stahlhelm (steel helmet) on loanalongside a medal showing a German soldier wearing asimilar helmet, commemorating the Battle of the Somme.

The reverse of the medal reads 'To die for the fatherland is asweet thing and becoming', quoting a line from the Romanpoet Horace. It reminds the visitor that these medalsweren't mere abstract musings about the horrors of war.They were made by people who lived through war and itsconsequences: indeed, many artists were active combatants.

SB. The case will have three main display focuses which willbe showcased through medals - commemorative as well ascampaign. The focuses will be 'Commemorating Events','Commemorating People' and 'Commemorating Valour'which will be shown through objects in the case; the graphicpanels will illustrate 'The Art of the Medals' and 'EmergencyMoney'. It is thought to show the money-items only throughgraphic enlargements on the panels because of their rathersmall and insignificant size which will prove difficult toengage audience if they are shown in the case.

3) What objects have you used in the display. Were therethings you would have liked to include and didn't, and why?

TH. The British Museum has a collection of German artmedals totalling almost five hundred about the war. Owingto the strength of the collection, narrowing the list down toa selection of 40-50 objects was very challenging. The finalselection was chosen to satisfy two objectives: firstly, that allthe medals on display should be visually arresting, andsecondly that they should be able to illustrate an historicalnarrative about the war.

SB. The medals 'commemorating events' will include thosestruck to commemorate the Assassination of ArchdukeFerdinand, Aerial Bombardment of London, the Sinking ofLusitania, the War Theatres in Africa, the Armistice andsalient battles such as Ypres, Verdun and Jutland.'Commemorating People' will have the German-Austro-Hungary-Turkey leaders, Statesmen like Lloyd George andWoodrow Wilson and military generals like Kitchener, Joffre,Zeppelin and Hindenburg. Military medals and decorationsfrom England, France, Germany and Austro-Hungary willshowcase 'commemorating valour'. One of the graphicpanels will bring out the artistic aspects of the medals; theother will show interesting monetary objects like encasedpostage stamps used as money, prisoner-of-war tokens, fieldcanteen tokens and emergency money forms such as'kriegsgeld' and paper coupons.

4) Why is it important to mark the start of WWI in museums,particularly in archaeology and art museums?

TH. It is important for museums to display the materialculture of the war so that one can begin to appreciate theenormity of the losses. 11 million Germans went to war and1.8 million never returned home. Merely relaying thesestatistics without supporting material would not adequatelyexpress the scale of the destruction, or the way in which itignited the imaginations of those who lived through it.

SB. The emphasis of the exhibition is on commemorating the

War as a watershed event that changed global history andwas stark and full of awe in its detail, not to glorify thevictories or showcase 'triumphalism' in any way. The choiceof the material reflects this and it also meant that someobjects, particularly those like the propagandist medals hadto be kept out. Included in this category are some racist andnasty medallic renderings by Karl Goetz which would not be'politically correct' in today's context for the sentiments theyevoke.

5) How do your respective numismatic collections lendthemselves to tackling exhibition subjects of this kind? Whereare they strong or weak and who's stories do they tell?

TH. The British Museum's collection of First World Warmedals is fairly representative, and it contrasts with thelimited output by allied artists in comparison with Germanartists. Indeed, this was even noted during the war,prompting Sir Arthur Evans (archaeologist, British MuseumTrustee and President of the Royal Numismatic Society) tooffer a prize for the best medal commemorating a navalvictory at Jutland in 1916.

SB. The coin collection at the Ashmolean is not particularlygreat in the 20th century realm - primarily because as aUniversity teaching collection (as against a 'nationalcollection') it is built around an active interest in Historybeyond the 'contemporary' period. But our collection ofmedals is pretty good and covers a wide range of interests,events and purposes. Some of the material has a local'Oxford' flavour in being gifted by local people who were orweren't associated with the University.

For more information on the Moneyand Medals Network, see:www.moneyandmedals.org.uk/