Now This Is Rare!

This neck-ribboned silver medal was awarded by the “Notgemeinschaft Der Deutschen Wissenschaft” (Emergency Association of German Science)founded in 1920 by Fritz Haber, Max Planck and Ernst von Harnack, Friedrich Schmidt-Ott and Heinrich Konen. Members included all of the major German Universities, Polytechnic Schools and Scientific Academies including the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft. To make a long story short, the purpose of this organization was fund raising for the sciences; sort of a United Fund for the German scientific institutions. Donors to this fund were entitled to membership in the ‘Stifterverband Der Notgemeinschaft Der Deutschen Wissenschaft” (Donors Association of the NDDW) and I suspect that it was this branch of the organization that may have issued these medals. The medal’s reverse is inscribed “Den Foerderern Der Deutschen Wissenschaft Ein Dankes-Zeichen” (A mark of thanks to one who has advanced the cause of German Science)
Back in December 1975 the Graf Klenau firm sold one of these medals in their auction for 400 Deutsch marks or about $200, listing it as very scarce and that only about 12 medals were awarded.
If that is true someone must have been a whale of a contributor or a heck of a fund raiser to have earned one of these. Makes me wonder just who the original owner of this one might have been.