Van Halen's September 1830 Medal

[Hendrik]

Gents,

I recently had the good fortune of acquiring a numbered example of this uncommon medal awarded to the volunteers of the town of Brussels that chased the Dutch occupying army from their town between 23 and 27 September 1830 during the struggle for independence of Belgium.

Pictures say more than words so here goes :

 

 

The last picture clearly shows the number 141 at the bottom. As can be seen, the medal is gilded and here's where my confusion starts : in past auctions I have seen this medal described as silver gilt (numbered), "gilt AE metal" (i.e. bronze or other metal alloy and plain silver). The latter two were unnumbered. Von Heyden in his book claims the medal is in bronze ...  Could it be that only numbered medals were gilded in the production process ? All information is welcome !

 

Some other data on this medal :

Obverse centre reads "Septembre 1830 Union Force" and around the edge "Aux braves défenseurs de Bruxelles par leur commandant Don Juan van Halen"

Reverse centre reads "Au patriotisme belge courageusement éprouvé" and around the edge  "Donné en souvenir sous la régence de Surlet de Chokier en Juin MDCCCXXXI"  and, in this case, "No. 141".

 

Regards,

Hendrik

Edited August 20, 2022 by Hendrik

[Hendrik]

Hi All,

 

Further research into this award has led me to the excellent paper "The Campaign Medals of Don Juan Van Halen, Belgium 1831" by Mr. Johan Van Heesch. Thus, I have learnt that the numbered medals were either in bronze or gilded bronze with the exception of one gold one (to a German wine merchant !) and had a suspension loop for wearing. It would appear that at the time some bronze and silver table medals were struck "for collectors" ...

 

Thanks to the aforementioned paper, it has been possible to identify the recipient of medal no. 141 as the then 18-year old shoemaker Martin Debruyn from Brussels who was wounded on 23 September 1830.

 

Regards,

Hendrik