France 3 France medals

[Noor]

Hi all,

I have here three France medals that I would like to let go. Can you guys please help me with the fair price that I should ask? Also if it is possible to determinate a period, etc that would affect the value. Like I understand this is the case especially regards the clasps on the Colonial medal?

1. Madagascar Expedition medal 1895 (missing clasp) "ARGENT" and Paris mint on the rim.

2. Dahomey Expedition Commemoration medal 1892.Daniel Dupuis (I saw Liverpool medals sold his stock for £145 and medal-medaille offers one for £235!!!)

3. Colonial medal. Like I understand it is earlier type but I don't know much about the clasps - how rare they are and from what period. I can't find any maker marks. Does this indicates private maker?

Any advice would be great guys!

Thanking you in advance,

Timo

Edited April 1, 2014 by Noor

[Chris Boonzaier]

Any stamps on the clasps of the Colonial medal? The back of the clasps is the most important thing to see....

[Bison]

Hi Noor,

This just my humble opinion.

Madagascar medal: the clasp is missing, this is 50% value off. Pending the Monnaie de Paris stamp, if it is not from the period, it is more 20% off. A full good one is about 90 euros.

Dahomey, pending further examination, this is something around 200 euros, I let you translate in GBP. There are some copies.

Colonial medal is all about the clasps in this case. These are relatively scarce. They seem to be well marked. Let say again something around 300 euros, pending further examination on hands.

Again, this is my personal approach if I would be in position to buy, as a starting point.

Regards

Bison

[Noor]

Hi guys,

Thank you very much for your comments.

Now, I will try to make a photo of Madagascar medal stamp when I get home from college.

Colonial medal clasps looks like are well made and surely silver. Ribbon is stiched so I was able to do just a little beak - there are some "dot" each of them that can be hallmark - will look again.

Dahomey medal I can't see any maker marks (or where to look?). Only name under bareljef.

Regards,

Timo

[Noor]

Here you go guys - here are two scans - one is Madagascar medal's hallmark on the rim and other Colonial medals clasps on the back.

Any comments would be great!

Thanking you in advance,

Timo

[Chris Boonzaier]

Nice one... I did not realise those OM bars were that expensive.

I am guessing from the sewing on the back that these may have been from a group? Any info on that?

Thanks

Chrs

[Noor]

No info on that but they came from same source and Dahomey/Colonial medal has exact same style stitching on the back with same colour threat.

[TacHel]

Nice one... I did not realise those OM bars were that expensive.

Neither did I! I'm going to start checking my stock of such clasps, I easily have 50+ in a box...

[Bison]

Timo,

The clasps are from Lemaitre.

TacHel, if you want to share with us your magic box...

Bison

[TacHel]

I will... Give me a few days, they're spread out in multi drawers... (Box was a poor choice of words...)

[TacHel]

Timo, sorry if this is a bit

A photo of the first batch in the first drawer... Clasps for the Colonial medal, for the Overseas medal, for the National Defense medals, for the French Commemorative medal...

I traded 25+ older ones to a German dealer last year in exchange for Commander's neck badges of the Order of Agricultural Merit and Arts and Letters.

Still, I know I have more spread here and there...

And now, back to your regular scheduled programming.

[Bison]

OK, let's try to explain the values I gave before for the trio shown by Noor.

TacHel, the clasps you are showing are all but clasps for the Colonial medal. Only the gold-colored ones are for the Oversea Medal which has replaced the Colonial medal in the 60s. All are modern made, and in common metal.

Back to the Noor's trio. What do we actually have?

First, we have the Madagascar second campaign medal, awarded in 1894-1895. It looks like it is an original one from the period of creation. Note it has been made during a long time after the first awards.

Second, we have the Dahomey Campaign medal created for a particular expedition in 1892. It exists various versions and late productions which differ by some details from the early production. From what I see, this is most likely one is from the early production.

Third, we have the Colonial medal, first official type, issued between 1895 and 1913.

On this colonial medal we have two clasps in silver (head of boar stamp). They have been made by Lemaitre, who was a famous medal maker on that period. The two clasps present the characteristics of his early production, circa 1895 - 1900.

The clasp "MADAGASCAR" has been awarded for campaigns between 1896 and 1900, or between 1903 and 1906.

The clasp "COTE D'IVOIRE" has been awarded for campaigns between 1893 and 1900.

These two clasps have been produced during a long period after the campaigns, but they are different.

So what ?

1. These 3 medals are fully compatible together, issued during the period of award, therefore they can come from the same soldier.

2. To obtain these 3 medals, this soldier has probably:

- done the Dahomey Campaign in 1892 (Dahomey Campaign Medal)

- then shifted in Ivory Coast Campaign in 1893 (Colonial Medal with "Côte d'Ivoire" clasp)

- then deployed in Madagascar circa 1894 - 1895 (Madagascar Second Campaign Medal)

- and remained in Madagascar in 1896 + (Colonial Medal with clasp "Madagascar")

3. All these original early issued medals are relatively scarce

4. If they come from the same group, this would be a very interesting combination... but unfortunately we will probably never know.

Regards

Bison

Edited April 5, 2014 by Bison