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Can You Separate the "Inseparable Friends" of 1814?


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Thomas Kettle in 1814 issued a small medal which was to become a classic, one which every collector of Napoleonic or Kettle pieces wants to have in their collection. So even though the brass & copper versions are listed as N. for normal rarity, with only the silvered listed as RR. for very rare, they are much in demand & therefore command a premium, especially ones in good condition.

 

 

That said I have been after one for a long time, well I finally have one..........Your challenge, if you so desire, is to try is to pick the one I purchased from the following 12 pictured using the column letter A,B or C & the row # 1,2,3 or 4 and give a reason why you picked that one.

 

Here, as an enticement to give it a go, is where Thomas' inspiration for the medal came from(courtesy of the Bodleian Library)

 

ToElbaCartoon.jpg

 

These, pictured below, were all the decent examples I could find on the web, including mine.

 

820832-horz-vert-vert-vert123.jpg

 

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It is just a few months shy of 200 years since these were struck and apparently the variant that I have found has never been recorded before. Hence why I thought I would post the composite picture to give others the chance to spot it from amongst the normal versions.

 

Whilst doing some research on Henry & Thomas Kettle I discovered that they were descended from a French Huguenot family which left France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes(1685) the head of the family was Henri Quitel. The surname Quitel later became anglicized to Kettle. This then is a direct link to the medals I collect from the period of the French Wars of Religion(mid to late 16th C.) to my collecting the medals of the Kettles, those descendants of the Huguenot émigré Henri Quitel, produced in England 200+ years later.

 

 

I also came across the metallic content of one these medals, it was # 3 in a large group that was being analyzed. 3. Kettle = Obv. Napoleon seated backwards on a ass being led by walking horned devil who pulls a halter around Napoleon's neck: INSEPERABLE.FRIENDS - in ex: TO.ELBA

Rev. around top: WE.CONQUER.TO.SET.FREE field: EMP./OF.RUSSIA/K.OF.PRUSSIA/MARQUIS/WELLINGTON/PRINCE/SCHWARTZEN- /BERG
bottom: MARCH.31.1814

 

 

Weight Cu Zn Sn Pb Ag Ni As Sb Fe
3. Kettle 1814 4.40 93.9 4.7 0.29 0.40 0.08 - 0.44 - 0.14
3.Silvered surface 0.39 0.46

 

Weights are cited in grammes. Standard chemical symbols
are used for metals: Cu = copper: Z = zinc: Sn = tin: Pb =
lead: Ag = silver: Ni = nickel: As = arsenic: Sb = antimony: Fe =
iron.
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It sure does Bill, there is quite a variation in all the metals & their colors but there is one among the 12 that is engraved quite different to the rest of them. So sorry but please try again.

 

Since I located all the pictures and posted them with mine 2 more have appeared on-line which are still the normal version. So I know that the variant I have must be extremely rare. I am surprised that it has not been noticed years ago, but here is the chance to spot it now.

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Well, then it is B3, different engraving. Different ass, arms on the back, devil has different legs.

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Well done Bill. I have taken new pictures of it, it is silvered(RR.) & is in great condition as well as being an unlisted variant, must be RRRR. The devil's horns are longer as well. I first spotted the extra ground behind the ass' last leg & Napoleon's foot farther away from the ass' leg. Decided that whatever it was going to be mine but got it pretty cheap, not till it arrived I realized how great a condition it was in, as the seller's pictures did not do it justice. Glad that you spotted it...after I had bought though, not before.

DSCF2596-horz.jpg

 

One to compare it too.

69248.jpg

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Great find! I eyed that one too once you said the engraving was different.

 

Why do you think the engraving is so drastically different?

I am not sure if you meant;

1. Why, do you think, the engraving is so drastically different? Meaning why do I think that it is drastically different because you do

not understand why I think that.

Because it is not just a minor variation(like a missing stop, doubling of a letter, etc) or a reworked die, but a totally new engraved die.

2 Why do you think the engraving is so drastically different? Meaning that you agree that it is drastically different and would like to know why.

Perhaps Kettle gave the satirical print to 2 engravers and asked them both to produce dies, preferred the one more commonly seen so used that but when that die became worn switched to the other die for the final few made, hence there being so few examples. I did not mention it but the reverses also have slightly spacing for the inscriptions.

Or maybe, the old die needed replacing, instead of just slavishly copying it he tried something new.

 

I guess we will never know but it is puzzles like this that keep exonumia so interesting, thanks for the question TDP :)

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  • 2 years later...

I guess you know there is another medal with the same adverse, Bramsen 1447:

 

1033152.jpg

 

In post-Renaissance France, society ridiculed and humiliated husbands thought to be battered and/or dominated by their wives. In France, for instance, a "battered" husband was trotted around town riding a donkey backwards while holding its tail.

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Interesting piece. I see he's wearing a Napoleon hat and the "To Elba". So banishing the poor battered chap as well. :grin:

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I guess you know there is another medal with the same adverse, Bramsen 1447:

 

1033152.jpg

 

In post-Renaissance France, society ridiculed and humiliated husbands thought to be battered and/or dominated by their wives. In France, for instance, a "battered" husband was trotted around town riding a donkey backwards while holding its tail.

Great find, one which I was not aware of, I guess that you have seen this one of mine with the same German inscription.

 

DSCF0938-horz.jpg

 

If you ever consider selling or exchanging it, would you please let me know(PM me). Thanks.

 

Pat

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And the story goes on.

 

The first medal you show, which is Bramsen 1415, is made by Thomas Kettle. Kettle also made another medal with the same reverse dies. On the adverse there is a portrait of Emperor Alexander with the legend "ALEXANDER EMP. OF ALL THE RUSSIAS".

 

Bramsen 1371:

 

http://www.napoleonicmedals.org/coins/bhm-797.htm

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DSCF3179-horz.jpgFauver, Alexander 1814-1fpa 25mm R-6 by Kettle. The copy/reducing lines are clearly visible, the cutter juddered going over the bust ribbon and some of the letters. The 'D' has a clear cutting line acrossed it. As is the case with these medals, that show the die still had machined marks, the piece is in great condition, being silvered-copper also makes it slightly rarer.

 

 

DSCF2446-horz_1.jpg

 

FAUVER ALEXANDER-2a R.-6

 

 

You might find this link of interest, it is a post of mine re the Kettle family of die-sinkers http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,27159.0.html I still have a lot of pieces to add to that link.

 

 

Here are 4 more of Kettle's I still have to add to that post, the top one has central machine marks on the reverse, unlisted as silvered, unsigned and has the rarer obverse, "THEY" starts just above the exegue.

 

DSCF3268-horz_2.jpg

FAUVER PEACE 1814-3, ONLY LISTED IN COPPER R.-8(5-10 KNOWN) THIS BEING SILVERED IS EVEN RARER, MIGHT BE UNIQUE.

 

DSCF3269-horz.jpg

FAUVER PEACE 1814-2a R.-6

 

 

DSCN2622-horz.jpg

FAUVER Peace 1814-1 R.-6, ONLY LISTED IN BRASS, THIS IS HEAVILY GILDED SO RARER

DSCF2439-horz_1.jpg

 

THE BRASS VERSION OF PEACE 1814-1b

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  • 4 years later...
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