163, Lot: 358. Estimate $75. Sold for $201. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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GERMANY. Wilhelm II. AR Medal (35mm, 18.65 g). Visit to Palestine, 1898. Bust left in military uniform wearing “pickelhaube” / The imperial yacht SMY Hohenzollern. Edge: SEGENMUNZE PALASTINA. VF, polished.
Numerous medals and other souvenirs marked the visit of Wilhelm to Jerusalem in 1898, the first tour of the Holy Land by a Christian ruler since the Crusades. Wilhelm was presented with land for the Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion, and made other donations to charitable foundations. Theodor Herzl met with Wilhelm in Jerusalem, hoping to obtain his backing for a German Jewish settlement in Palestine, but the German Kaiser was more interested in a strategic alliance with the Ottoman Turks.