French medal to Irish 1908

[Noor]

Hi all,

A random find from Dublin. Claimed to be a find from the house clearance (Rathgar, Rathmines area).

What medal it is exactly, which kind of ribbon I need for it and is there any records available what for Mr. Charles Leonard got that award on the 31 May 1908?

Thanking you in advance,

Noor

[peter monahan]

Noor

This one is an oddity.  First, as far as I can tell from looking at numerous examples on line - Ebay and various numismatic dealers, it is not meant to have a suspender or ribbon.  It seems to be what the French call a 'jeton' , which translates [roughly] as a 'token' or what I've seen described as a 'table-top medal'.  That is, meant for display in its box on the mantelpiece or wherever.

There were a large number of such awards given out by various French government ministries in the 19th and early 20th century, including for Labour, the arts, and so on.  It's just possible this of is from the Ministry of Labour and so might be for union work, an international conference or...?  But not at all sure of that.  My French is pretty awful and I'm still looking for a site that actually describes them, not just sells them.

The official title seems to be "France, Médaille, La Renommée proclame le Mérite", which phrase translates as 'the name proclaims the merit' - not much help! - and it came in silver as well as bronze.

Peter

Edited May 13, 2019 by peter monahan

[Noor]

Thank you Peter for your comprehensive reply. Unfortunately I came up with the same result – I saw plenty of medallions only and no (semi)official description what it is exactly. I do not have any French knowledge so it will remain mystery to me.

 

However, I think it was awarded to the priest Charles Leonard. I was able to locate only 2 Charles Leonard’s on the 1901 Census and the priest lived in South part of Dublin where the medal was found and also his place of birth is marked Lorraine! He could have had some connections in France!

 

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?searchMoreVisible=false&census_year=1901&surname=Leonard&firstname=Charles&county19011911=Dublin&county1821=&county1831=&county1841=&county1851=&parish=&ward=&barony=&townland=&houseNumber=&ded=&age=&sex=&search=Search&ageInMonths=&relationToHead=&religion=&education=&occupation=&marriageStatus=&yearsMarried=&birthplace=&nativeCountry=&language=&deafdumb=&causeOfDeath=&yearOfDeath=&familiesNumber=&malesNumber=&femalesNumber=&maleServNumber=&femaleServNumber=&estChurchNumber=&romanCatNumber=&presbNumber=&protNumber=&marriageYears=&childrenBorn=&childrenLiving=

[Noor]

not the same but close...

http://www.medal-medaille.com/medal-french-renaissance-civic-merit-mdaille-mrite-civique-renaissance-franaise-miniature-p-10722.html

Here is one more with the same obverse:

https://www.morlaix-encheres.com/ventes-aux-encheres/ventes-artistiques/phaleristique-et-naturalia/medaille-d-honneur-agricole-1890

Edited May 13, 2019 by Noor

[peter monahan]

An Irish priest born in Lorraine certainly sounds like a likely candidate to be rewarded for 'promoting Franco_Irish amity' or some such.  A nice puzzle! 

[Noor]

Thanks Peter! Too much puzzle to me so I decided to move it in instead...

[peter monahan]

19 hours ago, Noor said:

Thanks Peter! Too much puzzle to me so I decided to move it in instead...

 But I understand and would probably do the same in your shoes.