Auction 84 - Jewish and Israeli History, Culture and Art

Including: Items from the Estate of Ruth Dayan, Old Master Works, Israeli Art and Numismatics

Declaration of Common Aims of the Mid-European Nations – Bilingual Poster Issued by Twelve Representatives of Persecuted and Oppressed European Nations, including the Representative of the Zionists Itamar Ben Avi – Philadelphia, 1918

Opening: $100
Sold for: $163
Including buyer's premium
Declaration of Common Aims of the Mid-European Nations. Bilingual poster. [Philadelphia, 1918]. Hebrew and English. The Mid-European Union was established on September 16, 1918, as a joint organization of persecuted and oppressed European nations – "fifty million people between the Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea and the Baltic sea". The goal of the union was to promote the independence of persecuted nations and strive to cooperation among them, in the spirit of the "Self-Determination" principle devised by USA President, Woodrow Wilson, after World War I. In October 1918, Wilson invited a delegation of twelve of the union's representatives – including representatives of the Polish, Ukrainian, Armenian and Romanian nations as well as that of the Zionist "nation", Itamar Ben Avi – headed by Tomáš Masaryk – the Czech "President Liberator". The representatives gathered in the Independence Hall in Philadelphia (where the independence of the USA was declared a hundred and fifty years earlier) and during a festive ceremony signed the Declaration of Common Aims of the Mid-European Nations. For the event, the representatives brought with them the "European Liberty Bell" – a duplicate of the American Liberty Bell, ringing it in front of the original bell. The poster features the text of the declaration, in English and in Hebrew. Printed on bottom – the English signatures of the representatives (Ben Avi's signature: Ittamar Benavi of Jerusalem). On top – an illustration of the Independence Hall between the two Liberty Bells. Approx. 45.5X61 cm. mounted on a card (with two strips of tape on upper edge) and placed in a frame. Good condition. Minor blemishes. Fold lines. Small tears along edges and fold lines. An open tear to bottom (not affecting the text). Unexamined out of frame.
Americana and Anglo-Judaica
Americana and Anglo-Judaica