Can anyone tell me just what might be happening here? It looks like the central figure is getting some help from the Big Guy in the Sky (a sceptre and a palm frond coming out of the clouds), but who might be the crouching losers on either side? I'm actually selling this jeton on eBay starting this Sunday, and I feel foolish not knowing what the allegory is.

The motto is VIR TEM SE VIR FOR SE -- any guesses for how this might come out in translation? Is VIR for VIRTUTE or simply VIR for man? and what about TEM or FOR?...... I can't find anything online that's similar.

Man himself is transitory, Man boasts about himself. That would appear to be what it says if you take TEM as a short form of TEMPORE.

The Edict of Amboise was signed at the Château of Amboise on March 19, 1563 by Catherine de' Medici, acting as regent for her son Charles IX of France. The treaty officially ended the first phase of the French Wars of Religion. Moreover, the treaty restored peace to France by guaranteeing the Huguenots religious privileges and freedoms.

I wonder if the central figure is Catherine de' Medici, and the poor souls she is sheltering (by The Edict of Amboise) are Huguenots.

Hmmmm... Thanks Constanius for the history. I think the jeton's one of Krauwinckel's (it's his style), and it would make sense for the Northern Germans to support Protestantism in France. If that's Catherine de Medicis in the middle, though, she's looking pretty scrawny. But the figure could still represent Chas IX in some allegorical form, or just the personification of the French royalty...

I wish the jeton were cleaner and not so corroded, but I daren't clean it up, of course.

I wasn't sure from the image if the date was 1561,2,3, or 7. unfortunately my references are all packed away for the moment so my input is likely to be as useful as a one legged man in a butt kicking competition.

I have a king's counsel jeton dated 1561 which (strangely) is in the name of Francis II. He died in december 1560, but it is not unheard of for there to be two different jetons of the same series for the same date, more so given that the order for its production must have been given during his lasy months of life. My first thought was that this was perhaps issued under Charles IX in 1561 and represented the edict of Orleans which (albeit temporarily) attempted to put an end to the persecution of the Hugeunots. However if it is indeed 1563 then i'd go with what Constanius says. In any event it is most likely to represent one or other of the events of France's religious wars.

I'm intrigued by the figure with the wheel on the right. Someone on a wheel is usually taken to mean `Fortuna' and her wheel of fortune. It does appear to be a female figure....or my eyesight is playing up again. In 19thc gaming tokens we often see `Fortuna' on her mono cycle carrying a cornucopia. In this case however I would presume that the jeton depicts someone who is intervening (bringing fortune) to assist those whose fortunes have hit the depths. I'll crawl back under my brick now

Ian

This is a French jeton. Hans Krauwinckel has made Nuremberg copies of this type but always signed with his name or initials.
Freek