1800 Battle of Marengo

[elverno]

According to the flip I bought this for $48 and probably thought I was being ripped off! All that I had until this morning was an old scan of this medal. I pulled the box of my 1800 and 1801 medals out of the safe last night so you'll be inundated with new pics on this thread!

 

1800 Battle of Marengo

Laskey XII

Bramsen 37

d'Essling 833

 

 

And you can click here for higher res pics (and much larger if you click the pictures) along with Laskey's narrative from 1818. Famously (at least in the tiny world of Napoleon medal collectors) the reverse depicts 11 keys to castles turned over to the French by the Austrians after the battle. In fact they turned over 12 but the engraver was working with the first draft of the treaty in hand instead of the final.

[Ian]

A beauty!!

 

I'm looking forward to the show

[elverno]

c. 1800 Unknown jeton, Canton of Zurich.

 

 

The date on this one is a guess but the style is very similar to the turn of the century Zurich coinage.

[elverno]

A beauty!!

 

I'm looking forward to the show 

 

Thanks, your collection is inspiring me

[Tiffibunny]

Nice!

[Art]

Wonderful pieces. I can't wait to see the rest.

[elverno]

1800 Le Quai de Desaix.

Bramsen 68

d'Essling 855

Milan - 283

 

 

Among the many public works initiated by First Consul Bonaparte was a quai named after Napoleon's friend General Desaix who fell mortally wounded at the critical moment of the battle of Marengo. According to Laskey the quai was 'situated nearly opposite le Quai de la Megisserie, between the bridge of Notre Dame and the Pont au Change.'

[elverno]

Austria lost the Battle of Marengo and therefore lost the war. Napoleon's huge gamble paid off. If he had lost this battle it's entirely possible that the Consulate would have fallen and Napoleon with it. The Austrians did the only thing they could; they celebrated the peace that followed as if it was the thing they had been seeking all along. This brass medal is very scarce, I've only seen one other example in 30 years collecting. This example was buried in a lot of 15 junk tokens on eBay. Something about it struck me as being from my period and I looked it up.

 

1800 Espoirs de paix, Austria.

Bramsen 2140

d'Essling 869

 

[elverno]

One of the most common jetons de presence of the Napoleonic era. This has been restruck up until the present day. The Napoleonic medal scholar David Block once wrote me about this series:

 

"Dumarest (the artist) signed in full on Bramsen #29 but used only his first initial on 28. He died young. The obituary in "Le Moniteur" contained remarks about his troubles with the medal mint: they often broke his dies when hardening them, and he had to remake one five times! There are varieties of several of his pieces because of mint accidents.

 

... Like many of the others, this is a 'jeton de presence'. In token payment to members of boards of directors and such they were given these jettons when they attended meetings. For this reason the jettons were struck in silver or (rarely) in gold. Bronze copies were (and still are) sold by the mint."

 

1800 Banque de France, France

Bramsen 28

d'Essling 826

 

 

This is a restrike from the 1846-1860 period.

And this is an original:

 

Bramsen 29

d'Essling 826

 

[elverno]

An odd piece, this is an attempt to connect Napoleon to the ancient lineage of French kings. It's doubtful that this was commissioned by him since the spelling of his name is the original and had not been in use by Napoleon for at least 3 years.

 

1800 A Napoléon

Bramsen 86

 

 

I have many Louis XVI jetons with variations on the fountain of water and earlier jetons also use the image. I have no real idea what they were implying; perhaps the King was the Water of Life for his people?

[elverno]

1800 Restoration of the Cisalpine Republic

Bramsen 42

d'Essling 838

 

 

A medal with a lot of history behind it. This medal is usually cataloged as "Battle of Marengo" but in fact recorded the restoration of the Cisalpine Republic, one of many tiny republics set up by Napoleon in his first pass through northern Italy in the late 1790s. It was mopped up by the Austrians when they returned to Italy in force and then "restored" after the battle of Marengo.

 

Engraved by Lavy this example was struck in Italy, probably in Turin where Lavy worked. We know this is an original from the period by the characteristic reddish-brown color, the die breaks and the angle of the mouth of the cornucopia under Cisalpine's arm on the reverse. The chocolate brown color typical of French medals was only available to the Paris mint, an artificial patina controlled by that institution. The dies were later taken to Paris where very few were struck before the dies failed. These examples are chocolate brown in color and only slightly more rare than the Italian strikes.

 

In the early 1830s the Napoleonic era dies were returned to the Paris mint after a 12 year absence, part of a Stalinization of Napoleon by the Bourbons. Many, like this medal, were unusable and it was decided to re-engrave the affected medals exactly as before. Fortunately for collectors no artist worth his salt; and the best were employed, would ever make an exact copy. The 2 separate dies made for the reverse each employ a distinctly different angle to the mouth of the cornucopia. Most examples seen of this medal on the market are one of those two sets of dies.

[elverno]

1800 Honneurs Rendus a Turenne, France.

Laskey 18

Bramsen 71

d'Essling 858

Milan 284

 

 

Legitimacy was something that haunted Napoleon his entire political career. As a general no one questioned his ability but he was just a jumped-up commoner no matter what his titles. In the Consulate period he attempted to connect his name to the glory days of the past. To that end he had a statue of Joan d'Arc raised and as in this case the body of the great Marshal Turenne moved to the temple of Mars and re-entombed there.

[elverno]

1800 Union of Ireland with Great Britain

BHM 494

 

 

The world went on, in some cases actually ignoring what France was up to. One of the most important events of 1800 in British life was the Union with Ireland. Quite controversial at the time because of the differences in religion and the history of English oppression of the Irish. This is a white metal medal and I suspect it has a light lacquer job that accounts for the dark patina. You can click here to see much higher res pictures.

[elverno]

1800 La liberté en 1800, France

Bramsen 79

 

 

This odd piece features Louis XVI seven years after his death. Royalists entertained the idea that Napoleon might bring back the Bourbon kings. This wasn't as odd at the time as it may seem now. The Directory collapsed a year before in part because the royalists party was gaining in power and Napoleon was known to be in favor of a strong hereditary executive.

[elverno]

1800 Place Bellecour à Lyon, France.

Bramsen 58

d'Essling 844

 

 

The city of Lyon had rebelled against the Revolutionary government of France. That government eventually retook the city and punished it severely, even to the extent of renaming it as the City with No-Name. Part of the France that Napoleon inherited from the Directory included places like Lyon and the Vendee that had rebelled. Napoleon set out to reconcile these areas, largely successfully.

[Ian]

I'm impressed not only by the quality of the medals but the depth of your knowledge....and your obvious passion for the subject and materials.

 

PS Keep 'em coming! The little snippets of information provided are both fascinating and enlightening.

 

Any idea where the 1800 Louis XVI jetton was minted? It looks a-typical Nurnberg.

[elverno]

Thanks Ian. The only thing I can venture is that I would guess that the Louis XVI jetton was produced in one of the Brunswick duchies or perhaps Hannover (because of the horse). That reverse is on a few other cheap little pieces so I suspect there was a workshop sitting out there cranking them out for emigres and to distribute in France itself.

[elverno]

1800 Colonne Nationale

Bramsen 61

Laskey XVI

d'Essling 846

 

 

Again, this was part of the balancing act between dealing with the royalists, who wanted the good old days, and the revolutionaries who were afraid that all of the positive advances would be lost by a return to those days.

 

In this case Lucien Bonaparte, the only Bonaparte that ever stood up to his brother and succeeded, participates in laying the first stone of what was to be a National Column in the place Vendôme. The column was to honor the heros of the Revolution and was significantly laid on the 11th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille. At this time Lucien was the Minister of the Interior, President of the Council of the Five Hundred (sort of a Senate) and a guy that could be counted on to lay a cornerstone or dedicate a building. He and Napoleon would fall out over the Empire; Lucien was a patriot devoted to the ideals of the Revolution and would not support his brother in betraying them.

 

A second example I received as a gift:

[elverno]

1800 Bataille de Marengo

Bramsen 38

d'Essling 834

 

 

You can probably tell I'm pulling these out of the box randomly.

 

This medal commemorates a Napoleon "moment". Though his words seem trite at times there's no doubt that they inspired his men. Before the battle of Marengo he commented to some of his soldiers, his "children", that it was his custom to spend the night on the field of battle. This implied his expectation that he would win the imminent battle and was spoken in a way to make sure that it got repeated to the rest of the army.

 

In fact he lost the first half of the battle of Marengo. He was in retreat and probably headed toward being a footnote in history when his friend Desaix appeared at the opportune time and place and with superior force. Those elements were later turned into axioms of how to win battles by Napoleon. The Austrian generals had actually retired for the evening, planning on a comfortable dinner and bed. The pursuit of the defeated French was entrusted to relatively minor officers. Desaix's troops crushed the head of the Austrian lead column and proceeded to roll up the entire Austrian army. In the fighting that followed Desaix was struck down and died, leading to the production of many of the medals already shown. The second battle was decisively a French victory.

 

Mourning his friend Napoleon sat down to an improvised dinner on the battlefield. His cook was able to obtain a chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes and of course had wine; the essence of Chicken Marengo. A few years later when the official history of the battle was written Napoleon would have us believe that the entire maneuver was planned, that Desaix showed up as ordered instead of improvising upon hearing the sounds of cannon.

[Ian]

1800 Bataille de Marengo

 

A few years later when the official history of the battle was written Napoleon would have us believe that the entire maneuver was planned, that Desaix showed up as ordered instead of improvising upon hearing the sounds of cannon.

 

I like the quote on the medal. Very apt for the event. :-)

 

It was really the battle of Hohenlinden ( Archduke John vs General Moreau) that woke Austria up to the fact that they had lost. Until then, they just considered Marengo to be a bit of a setback. The success at Hohenlinden was also to be the start of the rivalry between Nap and Moreau. Moreau had an obvious military talent that Napoleon feared might eclipse him. Napoleon was by far the greater `conspirator' though.

[elverno]

1800 Mort du Général Desaix

Bramsen 44

Laskey XIV

d'Essling 2724

Milan 270-271

 

 

Finally a medal that depicts Desaix himself. Captain Laskey's 1818 book on Napoleonic medals had this to say about the event:

 

'The death of this brave general took place at the battle of Marengo. He had, by a judicious manouvre, entirely cut off the left wing of the Austrian army; and, at the instant of his triumph, (after saving the army by a rapid forced march of ten leagues) he fell, mortally wounded by a bullet through his head. When the news of his death was taken to the Consul, in the heat of the action, he exclaimed, "Why have I not time to weep?" His death being universally lamented, gave fresh ardour to the army: to avenge it, they fell on the second line of Austrian infantry, who met them with great steadiness, and the victory was long held again in suspense. In the address of the Republic, sent by Carnot, on the subject of the battle of Marengo, he there says, "All France deplores the loss of General Desaix, who is regretted by every good mind."'

 

Correct in essence it's unlikely that Desaix had time (with a bullet through his head) to send his regrets to the First Consul for not having done enough to be remembered by properity. That's the gist of the legend on the reverse.

 

Moreau was an example of how jealously Napoleon guarded his reputation at the expense of others. Others like the great Davout had their victories minimized or combined with some of Napoleon's lesser victories as if they were a single large battle. Moreau had as high a reputation as Napoleon as a commander in 1800 and was effectively reduced to the level of sideshow participant; even though he was actually commanding the main French armies.

[Tiffibunny]

Must stop looking... GAH! So... nice...

[elverno]

1800 Charles James Fox

BHM 488

 

 

Charles James Fox was a perennial opposition leader in British politics throughout the 1790s. He was most often in opposition to Pitt the Younger, so much so that many tokens show their two heads, usually with Fox as a donkey under a legend that read "Odd Fellows". Even that was parodied as in my entry ("Even Fellows") in PCI6.

 

Fox opposed union with Ireland and most authorities believe this medal (large at 53mm) was issued by supporters of his opposition.

[elverno]

1800 Marriage of Gustavus IV Adolphus

 

 

A 55mm cast iron medal by Enhørning who was an active engraver throughout the period and is listed many times in Bramsen though this piece does not appear.

 

The best anyone can seem to say about Gustavus IV was that he was despotic and mentally deranged. Poor girl. The army eventually overthrew him and replaced him with his uncle (Charles XIII) who later was succeeded by Bernadotte.

[elverno]

1800 Calendar Medal

 

 

These were made to be carried in your pocket.