The Silich Collection of Historical and Art Medals (Part I)

FRANCE, Aviron, c. 1942, a bronze award plaque by W. Hochard and P.-A. Morlon, two male rowers rowing to right, rev. tablet flanked by branches of oak and palm, edge impressed bronze and cornucopia, 53 x 50mm, 95.26g (cf. CGMP p.276; cf. Noonans 282, 300). Good very fine £40-£60

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

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The artist, recipient of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1942, was a French Resistance fighter known as ‘Williams’, part of the Corps franc des Truands, a group operating and recruiting in Haute-Loire, Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme. On 16 August 1944, the section decided to attack a German convoy on the RN 9 at the hamlet of Creux-du-Rocher. Of the 14 members of the Resistance, 10, including Hochard, lost their lives.