Iffland-Ring

Common card · No. 469705

The Iffland-Ring is a diamond-studded ring with a picture of August Wilhelm Iffland, a prominent German actor, dramatist and theatre director of the late 18th and early 19th century, who played in works of contemporary writers Goethe and Schiller, starting in 1782. The holder of the Iffland-Ring is considered to be the "most significant and most worthy actor of the German-speaking theatre", in the opinion of the previous holder who has passed it to him by will. One exception to this rule came in 1954, when Werner Krauß was determined not by the previous holder Albert Bassermann (1867–1952) but by a committee of German-speaking actors. Bassermann had chosen a successor three times, but on each occasion his nominee had died shortly thereafter. Bassermann considered the ring cursed, and in 1935 declined to choose a fourth successor. Since his death, the Iffland-Ring has been earmarked as the state property of the Republic of Austria, although the holder retains it until their death. The origins...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Friedrich Weise (* 1775), Public domain