1810 King George III: Golden Jubilee of His Reign, Great Britain
BHM 680


42mm Link

George III's jubilee was like a birthday that never ends; they started a year early and carried on into the main year itself. This particular design was struck in two different sizes and multiple metals. The 42mm was only struck in white metal and is rare. THe crude piercing is common.

The much more common 48mm white metal version:


48mm Link

While this one is crudely pierced at the top, the hole in the center is more professionally done. You have to wonder how that hole would have facilitated wear.

1810 Chambre de Commerce de Lyon, France
Bramsen 1075
d'Essling 1955


32mm Link

A pretty piece though strangely misaligned, at least for an octagonal medal, on the obverse.

1810 Imprisonment of Sir Francis Burdett, Great Britain
BHM 690


26mm Link


26mm Link


26mm Link
This is the relatively common plain copper version.

One of the most repressive governments of the era was the British. If you spoke out against government policies or the King you could be imprisoned or hung. Sir Ralph Burdett was imprisoned for speaking against policy while a member of Parliment! The link features excepts from the watercolorist Farrington's diaries; a contemporary and inciteful look at British life from just on the edges of the inner circles.

A copper uniface impression of the obverse of BHM 689

BHM 689


48mm Link

The actual medal:


48mm Link

A goose-necked eagle! The various medallists had great imaginations.

No kidding Bill! I always thought this bust was probably a more accurate depiction of George III than some of the others.

1810 Direction générale des Musées impériaux, France
d'Essling 2245


32mm Link

Not much is known about this organization though it thrived about 1810. This is a restrike from around 1850.

1810 Mariage à Paris avec Marie-Louise, France
Bramsen 958 mule


15mm Link

The obverse is from an early die where the N's in the legend are reversed. The reverse is by a completely different engraver.

Bramsen 958
Edwards 551
d'Essling 1293


15mm Link Post 1880 restrike

Napoleon divorced Josephine early in 1810 for reasons of state. Without an heir of his blood he was convinced his dynasty would not survive his lifetime. After abortive negotiations with Russia for an arch-duchess he abruptly picked Marie-Louise of Austria to be his bride. The breaking off of negotiations led to the cooling of relations between Russia and France. But the truth is that the Russian royals were never going to let Napoleon marry into their family.

Bramsen 956 variant
Laskey CXIII
d'Essling 1290


15mm Link

Like the coronation medals of 1804 these tiny jetons were tossed from the carriages to the crowds lining the streets of Paris. This variant was deliberately struck to resemble an ancient coin or medal.

Bramsen 956
Laskey CXIII
d'Essling 1290


15mm Link

Bramsen 957 var
d'Essling 1291


15mm Link


15mm Link

This variant does not include the I^{<font size="-2">ER</font>} in the obverse legend.

1810 King George III: Golden Jubilee of His Reign, Great Britain
BHM 684


48mm Link

This beauty is by Küchler, an engraver whose work was notoriously restruck after his death. This is an exception, the work was a commission and the buyer insisted the dies be destroyed after the striking. This is one of 500 bronzed copper strikes and here is the true rarity:



The metal case of issue, almost never seen.

1810 A. Portal
Bramsen 1057
d'Essling 2923


28mm Link

I haven't been able to find out much information about Dr. Portal. And he had one of those unfortunate names in today's language; just try to Google "A. Portal" !

1810 Loge des Francs Chevaliers, France
Bramsen 1085
Marvin CCLII
d'Essling 2148


27mm Link

One difference between French masons and virtually the entire rest of the masonic world is the early and continued acceptance of women in their lodges or associated female lodges. This is probably one that had the Imperial Family's females as part of its membership. Struck c. 1810 the reverse legend translates roughly, God, the Emperor, the Women. Could just be a toast I suppose...

1810 Maçonnerie de Paris, France
Brasmen 936
d'Essling 2140
Marvin DCLXX mule, note 486


32mm Link


32mm Link tin

c.1810 Scottish Lodge of United Soldiers, France
Marvin 237


28mm Link

While the principal authority on Masonic medals (Marvin) had no date for this it came in an old style paper with other authorities written on it and the date 1810. It's possible that one of those other references gave the old owner a clue to the date. The style is First Empire though unsigned and the Lodge primarily worked during the same period.

Yet another great surprise. I love touches such as this that add to the enjoyment of an already exceptional medal.

1810 Calendar Medal, Great Britain


38mm Link

A copper gilt example by Kempson and Son.

1810 Jeton de Presence, France
Bramsen 1061
d'Essling 2845


32mm Link

At the time I purchased this I had never spent so much for a medal. Since then I've been offered ten times what I paid. Copper octagonal pieces are quite rare, they were usually struck in silver or gold.

Pastor Marron was president of the Consistorium in Paris but this was probably a personal jeton or issued by one of the church groups he was associated with.

I think it's one of the most beautiful I own.

1810 Chambre des Entrepreneurs de Maçonnerie, France
Bramsen 938
d'Essling 2141


32mm Link

Despite the date on the medal and the placing of the medal in 1810 it was in fact engraved about 1845 by Rogat. It appears to be a masonic medal but it is noted as an "operative" medal in a footnote in Marvin. This means it was actually issued by a guild of masons or stoneworkers as opposed to the "speculative" society everyone thinks they know about...

Oddly, the only historic thing that happened on 13 January 1810 was that Napoleon essentially disinherited his entire family in anticipation of taking a new wife and having an heir. Perhaps something to do with the guild itself happened on the same day.

Hmm, I was more tinking of a vulture....

1810 Visite du Roi et de la Reine de Baviere a la Monnaie des Médailles, France
Laskey CIX
Edwards 534
Bramsen 939
d'Essling 1278


41mm Link

Another medal mint visitation medal.

A white metal trial strike:


41mm Link

1810 Arrivée de l'Impératrice à Strasbourg, France
Bramsen 949
Edwards 543
d'Essling 1285


32mm Link

Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria were married by proxy in Vienna (meaning Napoleon wasn't there) and she set out to travel to Paris as Empress of France. Travel in those days was in poorly constructed carriages on dirt roads. Even the best of roads would hardly count as a county access road today. By the time she entered Strasburg and therefore France, she was exhausted and took two days out to recover a bit before continuing. Napoleon was impatient and met her on the way to Paris and, since they technically were married, found a room and had his way. Something of a bastard in how he treated women but not significantly different from most men of the day. Little wonder that in 1815 when Napoleon ordered her to return to him in France during the Hundred Days that she preferred to keep their son in Austria and dally with the lover her father had hand-picked to prevent her from wanting to go. Like I said, not only Napoleon...

Bramsen 950
Edwards 543a
d'Essling 1285


32mm Link

A rare variant in silver, ex-jewelry damaged. The difference is the number of olives at the bottom of the right hand wreath branch on the reverse.

1810 Mariage à Paris avec Marie-Louise, France
Bramsen 959


15 x 14mm Link

It's difficult at this remove of time to explain how thoroughly the fad of emulating ancient Roman and Greek fashion permeted French and European culture. This tiny medal was struck without a collar in order to get the rough look of those early medals and coins that formed the basis of most coin collectors' cabinets.

Your master catalog notes the engraver's name was erased on the die. (I'm assuming the rough blob along the top left of the exergue is what you are referring to. Do you have any idea why?

I'm guessing that it was an accident with the die. But Courtot was something of a royalist (read Bourbonist) at heart so he might have been out of favor. Courtot also only worked in Strasburg.

1810 Le Maréchal Oudinot, France
Bramsen 1053


42mm Link

Because of the obverse damage I acquired this beauty for $5. Oudinot was created a marshal of France because of his performance in the 1809 campaigns. He is best remembered for his converging the grenadier companies of his division to create elite shock forces.

1810 Mariage à Vienne avec Marie-Louise, France
Bramsen 949
Edwards 537
d'Essling 1280


28mm Link

The Austrian medals celebrating the marriage of a royal daughter to the Ogre are much more subdued than the French. Nevertheless this piece was worn for a considerable time as jewelry and has the usual damage from inexpert removal. Like all ex-jewelry I paid melt for this piece and it's a filler until a nicer one crosses my path when I'm flush...

1810 Lord Grenville Elected Chancellor of Oxford University, Great Britain
BHM 695


41mm Link

It was a hotly contested election and only the fact that the Tory party was divided did it mean that Lord Grenville got elected. This brass, or brass gilt, medal is rare.

1810 King George III: Golden Jubilee of His Reign, Great Britain
BHM 682


25mm Link


25mm Link


25mm Link


25mm Link Silvered copper

If you look at the rings inside the reverse rays of the top example you can see that it was struck from a different die than the others. I haven't seen any other examples of this variant but it's pretty easy to spot once you know it's there.

1810 Mariage de Louis, prince héritier de Bavière et de Thérése de Saxe, Bavaria
d'Essling 1328


22mm Link

This marriage and the subsequent celebrations in a meadow outside of Munich proved to be so popular that they have continued until today. Although today they're known as Oktoberfest.

1810 Statue de Desaix, France
Laskey CXVI
Bramsen 976
d'Essling 1321


41mm Link

This is a lead trial strike. Typically the engraver would use splashes of tin on a workbench and press their die into the splash as they worked to check their progress. Those tin splashes would get swept to the floor and at the end of the day thrown back into a pot to be remelted. For that reason tin strikes are very rare. From the surviving ones we know that Parisian engravers typically carved the people nude in order to get the proportions correct and then carved deeper in order to clothe them.

Lead trial strikes are from near the end of the engraving process. Blank lead planchets were prepared and struck with the unhardened die in a work press. They would then be sent to supervisors or other interested parties as a check before hardening the dies. As a result much more of them survive. This one is oddly darkened on the struck side but the expected dull lead look on the off side. They may have been toying with this patina for the production strikes but the actual production strikes are the typical chocolate brown.

1810 Mariage à Paris avec Marie-Louise, France
Bramsen 965
Edwards 555
d'Essling 1297


40mm Link

This tin medal is so rare that though there are two varieties this is the only one I've ever seen outside of reference books.

1810 Pompe Funebre du Duc de Montebello, France
Bramsen 971
Laskey CXIX
d'Essling 1314


68mm Link

The different color of the sides is the result of decades sitting in a presentation case.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I like this style of bust (with the torso facing the viewer and the head turned). There are many fine representations you've shown us in these posts, but something about this style makes it stand out. Maybe because its different, but there is something more to it, more "life-like."