Sometimes the absence of information on a medal speaks more eloquently than the imagery itself. Were we not already aware of the circumstances, we would never suspect that — while those responsible for creating it were at work — a revolution was shaking the Hohenzollern monarchy. The Silver Wedding of the royal couple became an occasion for loyalist Prussia to express its devotion to the crown.

Love Conquers Time

Lots 156 and 157 show on the obverse the double portrait of King Frederick William IV and his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria, who — as can be read in the exergue on the reverse — celebrated their Silver Wedding on 29 November 1848. The masterly reverse design depicts a rose-garlanded Cupid, clearly identifiable by the bow in his left hand. Above him shines his mythical mother Venus as the star of love. Cupid holds the fettered Chronos down, expressing the idea that true love need not fear the ravages of time. What an apt design for a Silver Wedding! The composition was provided by the then highly celebrated painter Peter von Cornelius.

On the Brink of the Abyss

Nothing in the medal hints at the fact that the year 1848 had cost several European rulers their thrones. The Paris Revolution of February 1848 had triggered a wave of uprisings. Berlin too was affected. Frederick William IV attempted to de-escalate through concessions. Yet during a mass gathering on the Palace Square, two shots were fired — most probably unintentionally. This prompted the radicals to begin erecting barricades.

Frederick William IV decided — against the express advice of the military — in favour of a peaceful solution. With great personal courage he confronted the insurgents directly in order to signal his willingness to compromise. The events that followed, in which the revolutionaries compelled him to pay his respects to their fallen and to bare his head, cost the king public standing in certain sections of society, and above all the support of his own army. But the radical forces were also losers. Their conduct aroused in many Berliners a fear of conditions akin to those that had prevailed during the French Revolution.

Fortunately, reason prevailed in Prussia. The moderate forces worked together to create a new foundation for the coexistence of ruler and people.

Silver Wedding in Potsdam

And so, a good half year later, the royal couple was able to receive gifts and congratulations from elected representatives of the people in Potsdam. A Neuruppin broadsheet described the occasion as follows: "While almost all of Europe was oppressed by unrest and revolutions, war, cholera, and hard times — from which we Prussians too were not exempt — we nonetheless experienced a day of the purest joy, a day which, in such turbulent times, proved how deeply the love for our illustrious royal house is rooted in the hearts of the people: the day on which our beloved royal couple celebrated their silver wedding. Throughout the entire country it aroused the most joyful feelings, and from near and far deputations came to convey their most heartfelt congratulations to the exalted couple."

Frederick William and Elisabeth did indeed receive such a great number of congratulatory addresses and poems that the idea arose to publish them in a book as testimony to the love of the people for their royal couple. The magnificent volume runs to 444 pages. The proceeds from its sale became the founding capital of the Queen Elisabeth Association Foundation, whose charitable purpose was to present gifts to deserving married couples of all faiths living within the territory of the Prussian monarchy, on the occasion of their significant wedding anniversaries.