Beschreibung:

The medals awarded to Eric Sawyer and Barry Dierks, two charmers who established and ran a successful architectural practice at Cannes, which flourished at the heart of 1920s and 30s Riviera Society Eight: Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. Sawyer, Intelligence Corps 1914 Star (2. Lieut: E. G. Sawyer); British War and Victory Medals (Major E. G. Sawyer); 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45; France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, gold appliqué, and enamel, poincon mark to base of tassel, in Georges Aucoc, Paris, case of issue, together with the related miniature award for the last, and the recipient’s riband bars, with rosette on 1914 Star riband, and M.I.D. oak leaves emblem on Victory Medal riband, very fine and better Four: B. Dierks, American Red Cross United States of America, Freedom Medal, bronze, in case of issue; France, Red Cross Medal, First Class, gilt, the reverse inscribed ‘Offert Par la Croix Rouge Française a Mr. Barry Dierks’, with integral top riband bar; Red Cross Medal, Second Class, silver, the reverse inscribed ‘M. B. Dierks’, with integral top riband bar; Italy, Kingdom, Italian Red Cross Merit Medal, bronze, unnamed as issued; together with the recipient’s Red Cross identity bracelet, this inscribed ‘Barry Dierks Cannes Anglo-American Ambulance Corps’; and a ‘Liaison Française’ lapel badge, bronze and enamel, in card box of issue, good very fine (lot) £300-£400 Footnote French Legion of Honour, Chevalier London Gazette 21 April 1917. Eric George Sawyer was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, in 1889, and was educated at Cheltenham College. After graduating as an engineer from the Royal School of Mines in London, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant, General List, on 6 August 1914, and served with the Intelligence Corps during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914. He was promoted temporary Captain on 20 April 1915, and was Mentioned in General Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch of 30 April 1916 (London Gazette 15 June 1916). He was promoted temporary Major on 1 April 1918, and temporary Lieutenant-Colonel on 8 March 1919. For his services during the Great War, where he latterly held a post in the Claims Commission, he was awarded the French Legion of Honour. He relinquished his commission on 4 July 1919, and was granted the honorary rank of Major. Following the cessation of hostilities, Sawyer remained in Paris, and was appointed managing director of the Choilet bank. Whilst in Paris he met the American architect Barry Dierks, and soon after they opened an architectural practice together on the French Riviera, with Dierks the architect and Sawyer the manager. With family money they built their home, a villa called ‘Le Trident’, named after a local rock feature on the beach, overlooking the sea at Theoule-sur-Mer- hewn into the rock, ‘Le Trident’ was an extraordinary achievement- not only was it the first building that Dierks had designed, but, as it was situated precariously on a steep and rocky cliff, Sawyer’s engineering and mining skills had been vital. Greatly admired, their house became the focal point for both their entertaining and in the cultivation of prospective clients. Their first commission came later that year from the author Somerset Maugham, and over the course of the inter-War period their practice flourished, and they designed and built over 100 houses and villas in and around Cannes and Antibes, of which 28 were for members of the aristocracy. Described as ‘the two charmers’, Sawyer and Dierks were at the centre of Riviera society, and their guests included the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson, Winston Churchill and various Hollywood stars. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Sawyer initially remained on the Riviera, under the Vichy regime, and attended early meetings of the Resistance movement. Although unconfirmed, it is probable that he was working for the Special Operations Executive during this period, a