France Dating a Napoleon Bonapart Medal?

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents,

I spotted this on offer online and wondered how do you go about dating such pieces:

Are they purely commemorative issued, or bought long after the event.

Kevin in Deva

[Lapa]

Hallo Gents,

I spotted this on offer online and wondered how do you go about dating such pieces:

Are they purely commemorative issued, or bought long after the event.

Kevin in Deva

Kevin,

The French have a long tradition - since the early 1600's at least - of issuing medals commemorating specific events. All of them were struck at the Paris Mint.

Now, there is a slight twist to the story, namely that the Mint still retains all of the original dies. In other terms, you can order today a restrike of, say, a Louis XIV medal, and they will do it (at of cost, of course). The key to identifying originality and period of strike is the presence or absence of those pesky mintmarks on the edge, and when present, which on it actually is.

Marc

[paul wood]

The medal is by Antoine Bovy (1795-1877). Born in Geneva but became a naturalised French Citizen in the 1840 s to enable hinm to be an engraver to the French mint, this medal would have been produced around 1850.

All the best,

Paul