Desirable winner’s medal issued for the Antwerp 1920 Summer Olympics. Silver, 57 mm, 85 gm, by Josue Dupon. The front shows a victorious athlete holding a laurel wreath and palm branch, with a statue of Renommee in the background, inscribed “VII Olympiade”; the reverse depicts the Brabo fountain above the Antwerp shield, a cathedral and city looming in the background, inscribed above, “Anvers MCMXX.” A total of 29 nations attended the VII Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium, with Hungary, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire all banned from competing due to their involvement in World War I and the cancelation of the 1916 Summer Games. In spite of such political unrest, the return of the Games debuted a trinity of enduring Olympic traditions—the voicing of the Olympic Oath, the symbolic release of doves, and the initial flying of the Olympic flag. An exceptional second place medal with great historical interest.
