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elverno

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Posts posted by elverno

  1. c. 1814 New Honors, Prussia

     

    923766.jpg

    24mm Link

     

    While the date is approximate the reverse was used in several First Restoration jetons. The obverse (and even that's a bit of a guess) shows some distinct doubling on the 'MUTH'. The other jetons using the reverse were produced by the Lauer workshop however this example spells IETTON on the reverse exergue differently.

  2. I don't know if the 1 Heller is as attractive in hand, but your lighting shows it off as a beautiful coin. Very nice.

     

    Thanks. Actually I didn't think it did the coin justice. But I like the one light setting I've been using for several months now as the color is pretty accurate.

  3. 1814 Congress of Vienna, German States

    Bramsen 1527

     

    923052.jpg

    33mm Link Silvered brass.

     

    Quite rare. An interesting Lauer jeton that features eight (!) busts on the obverse. The reverse talks about the Establishment of General Peace and shows a woman kneeling before Justice with a genie (a symbol of Victory usually) flying nearby. The background of the reverse is a multitude of churches.

     

    The Congress of Vienna was the political peace process following Napoleon's abdication in 1814 and later in 1815 as well. Nearly everyone who was anyone was there and the place was jumping with balls and other forms of entertainment. The real negotiations took place in back rooms with very few people involved. Ironically France was a major player because the Allies had made a point of saying they were fighting Napoleon not France. The French negotiator Talleyrand called that bluff at the Congress when they tried to exclude France from the table.

     

    Many of the little German states were finally eliminated at the Congress, merged into fewer, more viable states. In this the Allies were simply carrying on with Napoleon's plan. His relatively neat mind rebelled against the 300+ German states he encountered when first coming to power and by the end there were well under 50. It also wasn't a "done deal" that Napoleon was out as this contemporary print clearly shows. Talleyrand is under the table hiding from his former master and the rest are carving up Europe as fast as they can go! The comment by Talleyrand is a joke about his deformed foot, the result of an accident as an infant.

  4. 1802 Manchester & Salford Volunteers, Great Britain

     

    922991.jpg

    36mm Link

     

    A beautiful medal issued locally for officers and possibly rich volunteers serving in the ranks of a militia raised to resist the French if they invaded. Fortunately for these groups they never had to face the French Army, particularly the one trained to take them on. That army ultimately crushed the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz.

     

    Ok, it wasn't cheap.

  5. 1803 Electoral Freedom, Great Britain

    BHM 552

     

    922837.jpg

    37mm Link

     

    Rigging elections was fairly common in Great Britain during the French Revolution and First Empire period. One method was known as 'rotten' boroughs, elections for a member of Parliament where only one or a handful of voters made the decision. In the case of this medal Birch and a man named Warren were elected in what passed for a fair election. However they were opposed to the government then in power so it was decided that there had been irregularities and that a re-election was needed. Not surprisingly when the election took place Birch was out and the government man named Coke was in. Each side produced medals in the period between elections with this one being the more common of the two.

  6. 1796 8 Tornesi, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

     

    922711.jpg

    31.5mm Link

     

    Krause calls this country Naples & Sicily but the contemporary name was the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Bourbon rulers of this country were perhaps the ugliest pair of all time; which is saying something for the 18th century.

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