Defense of Verdun Medal (alternative unused design)

Congress authorized a special gold medal honoring the sacrifice of the citizens of the French city of Verdun during World War I. The Commission of Fine Arts held a limited competition for medal designs in early 1920, and this medal is one of Paul Manship’s proposed designs. Imagery on the obverse associates the city’s medieval history with the modern bombardment of World War I, symbolized by the airplanes circling overhead. On the reverse, an angel hovers over the city bearing the sword of righteousness and a sheaf of wheat symbolizing God’s judgment of the righteous and the wicked.