MONACO, Jeux Athletiques Feminins [Women's Athletic Games], a bronze award medal by A....

Szirmaï, Antal, aka Tony Szirmai (Hungarian, 1871-1938); b. Budapest, moved to Italy 1890, then France 1892 MONACO, Jeux Athletiques Feminins [Women’s Athletic Games], a bronze award medal by A. Szirmaï adapted for the Fédération Féminine français de Gymnastique et des Sports, four female athletes on tip-toe, joyously joining hands, rev. elevation of the Casino, tablet below impressed (Saison 1921-22), edge impressed bronze and with foundry mark, 63mm, 92.24g (cf. Gadoury Nov. 2019, 608). About extremely fine, rare; a significant medal for the female athletic movement £80-£100 --- Provenance: DNW Auction 44, 17 November 1999, lot 963; with Simmons; bt J.-P. Würz April 2002. The reverse design of the medal dates to 1911. Although the Olympic Games had in theory been open to female competitors since 1900, only 65 took part in the 1920 Games in Antwerp, and the situation did not much improve in the two decades before World War II. Faced with this situation, the Women's World Games were set up by Alice Milliat (1884-1957), who had founded the Fédération féminine sportive de France in 1917, as a reaction to Pierre de Coubertin's categorical refusal in 1919 to open certain disciplines to women. After trials in Monte Carlo in April 1921 and April 1922, the first edition of the Games was held at the Pershing stadium in Paris on 20 August 1922