"Jews of the Stock Exchange" - A pair of antisemitic candlesticks, 800 silver (hallmarked). Vienna, [1880].
A Jewish gentleman with stereotypical features with a long nose and side beard, in one hand closing his suit, and holding the back with the other hand. At the base of each candlestick is engraved the word "Hausse!" hinting at the "Jew of the Stock Exchange". After the great crash of the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1873 and the economic crisis, Jews were identified as guilty as those who had direct global influence on the stock market. On May 9, 1873 the Vienna stock market crashed, which could no longer support the bubble of excessive expansion, bankruptcies and speculative investments. A series of bank depletion of means of payment followed the crash, and reduced the capital required for business loans. This led to the most severe anti-Semitic agitation in Germany and France since the Crusades or the Black Death plague. The inciters argued that the Jews were "immoral" and that their successes in recent decades stemmed from cunning tricks. According to the historian of the Bismarck Empire Volker Ullrich, the outbreak of anti-Semitism was the "most severe and prolonged" result of the financial events, and since then it has become a "major component in the political culture" of the German Empire until its end in 1918.
Identical examples see catalog of antisemitic objects from Finkelstein collection "Antijudicher Nippes und populare Judenbilder" item no. 75. See also "The Jew in Antisemitic Art: The Peter Ehrenthal Collection" page 46. And also Sotheby's catalog - Important Judaica auction, held in Tel Aviv on April 15, 1998, item no. 207.
Height: 16 cm. Weighted base. Remains of wax marks. Good condition.
