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1802, Interval of Peace


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1802 Colonne à Napoléon à Marseille, France.

Bramsen 235

d'Essling 990

 

901567.jpg

43mm Link

 

The entire Consulate period is marked by these events. I get the impression that a group of legislators and important sounding officials went traveling from city to city erecting monuments to the First Consul's glory. Freud would undoubtably have much to say about the symbology. :ninja:

 

Actually this had multiple purposes in Napoleon's mind; it made personal the rule of a man who was simply another general in Paris to most of the country. Also, it kept those very officials busy, distracting them from the fact that Napoleon had no intention of letting them mess up his government by trying to help or hinder him.

 

Poize is the engraver of this medal and Forrer says he worked in Marseille. This appears to be one of three medals he engraved during the Napoleonic era so perhaps he worked at the mint in Marseille.

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Interesting. Sounds like Napoleon had a cleaver approach to keeping these folks busy. Great medal.

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1802 Constitution à Lyon de la République italienne, Cisalpine Republic.

Bramsen 189

d'Essling 952

Milan 334-338

 

901566.jpg

54mm Link

 

Napoleon intended for Italy to all come under either his personal rule or that of one of his family. But at this point he was establishing republics somewhat along the line of the French Republic. Manfredini was arguably the most talented of the Italian engravers of the period though others came close.

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1802 Chambre de Commerce de Rouen

d'Essling 2307

 

898813.jpg

32mm Link

 

An exceptionally beautiful jeton that was almost certainly originally struck about 1867. I bought it because of the 1802 date on the reverse and the fact that it was included in the d'Essling catalog. There was a Lecompte that worked until 1817 but there's no indication in Forrer that he worked on a Rouen jeton. However there's a later engraver working in the mid 1860s who is more likely the engraver. And the style is more Napoleon III than Bonaparte...

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1802 Peace of Amiens

 

901568.jpg

24mm Link

 

A jeton whose origin is probably one of the Brunswicker duchies and the subject of which appears to be the Peace of Amiens. I really know nothing about this piece except that it appears to have been part of a series from the same workshop.

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1802 Peace of Amiens, Great Britain.

BHM 545

Bramsen 2174

d'Essling 979

 

900393.jpg

24mm Silver or gilt copper Link

 

A RRR medal, probably fewer than 25 total were struck. It's not listed in gilt but the remainder looks more like gilt over copper than the listed silvered copper.

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1802 The Prince of Wales, Grand Master of the Freemasons and the Duke of Clarence

BHM 530

Marvin - CCLXII

 

901564.jpg

42mm white metal, R Link

 

I could copy the stuff from the webpage on this but I would encourage anyone who wants a detailed description of the symbology to click the link above and take a look at what Marvin had to say. There were not that many British Masonic medals issued during the Napoleonic era.

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I could copy the stuff from the webpage on this but I would encourage anyone who wants a detailed description of the symbology to click the link above and take a look at what Marvin had to say. There were not that many British Masonic medals issued during the Napoleonic era.

 

Well worth the visit and the read. The symbolism is intriguing. Great medal.

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1802 Death of Francis, Duke of Bedford, Great Britain.

BHM 532

 

903077.jpg

42mm copper gilt R - Link

 

From British Historical Medals:

"Francis Russell (1765-1802), fifth Duke of Bedford, succeeded his grandfather as Duke in 1771. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and in later life counted himself among the friends of George, Prince of Wales. He was especially devoted to rural science and was one of the chief patrons of the Bath and West Agricultural Society of which he was President at the time of his death."

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1802 Société des Arts Utiles de Lyon, France.

Bramsen 251

 

898235.jpg

34mm Link

 

Octagonal jetons are almost always 'jeton de presence' pieces as is this one. The reverse image is one of my daughter's favorites. :ninja:

 

Here's a different one that is undated but put in 1802 by Bramsen, the authority on Napoleonic medals:

 

1802 Agents de Commerce à Paris, France.

Bramsen 249

d'Essling 2064

Milan 378

 

898537.jpg

34mm Link

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1802 Calendar Medal, Great Britain.

 

899795.jpg

39mm Link

 

These calendar medals were carried in your pocket and were produced for decades. This one apparently didn't sell in 1802 and has been repunched on the obverse for 1816. It's gilt copper and the wear probably made it easier to use.

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1802 Paix d'Amiens, France/German State.

Bramsen 212

Milan 355

 

901591.jpg

24mm brass Link

 

An undated jeton that Bramsen dates to 1802. This is a good example of a small businessman not letting facts get in the way of smart business. The obverse is from early in the Consulate period. Even at the beginning of the Consulate Napoleon no longer spelled his name in the Italian manner and while I'm not certain when he went with a more "Brutus" haircut it certainly was early as well. But this guy had the die so...

 

They also came in copper/bronze:

 

903082.jpg

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1802 Peace of Amiens, Great Britain.

BHM 544

Bramsen 208

d'Essling 969

 

901565.jpg

24mm silvered brass RRR Link

 

An R3 medal (25-50 struck) that describes the National Day of Thanksgiving celebrated in Great Britain on June 1st, 1802 on the obverse and shows the implements of war burning on the reverse with symbols of Trade to the right and in the background. Perched on a sword in the fire itself is a dove carrying an olive branch in its beak.

 

Something that occurs a lot with British medals described in French references is that the two sides are reversed. You can see this if you follow the link above and read the Bramsen and d'Essling entries.

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1802 Papal Medal

 

903065.jpg

23mm Link

 

While this is a vast improvement over the previous pics I had the color isn't quite right. So, I'll toss it back on the to-be-taken pile.

 

I know no Latin per se. So, if I'm wrong about this being an installation medal or jeton for the Archbishop of Prague I'd really appreciate some help on a translation. :ninja:

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1802 Peace of Amiens, Great Britain.

BHM 543

d'Essling 976

 

898979.jpg

40mm white metal RRR Link

 

Let's face it, if you collect long enough you have a lot of favorites. But this medal, though technically flawed, is one of mine. The obverse it's hard to find fault with. The reverse just has some fun problems. :ninja: There are five ships on the reverse and the three that are under sail appear to be defying the laws of physics and sailing straight into the wind. I know it's possible to sail pretty close to the wind but I don't think any of those ships could have done it in 1802. In fact the wind is blowing so hard that the ship to the left of the tower has lifted into the air! The only other thing is that the reverse date was originally going to be 1801; when the treaty negotiation drug out the makers apparently decided to recut each date.

 

Take a look at the link and its hi-res pics. :lol:

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1802 Peace of Amiens, Great Britain.

BHM 535

Bramsen 2172

d'Essling 977

 

898073.jpg

48mm gilt copper probably R Link

 

This medal is not listed in gilt copper though a variant (BHM 534) is, and is listed as rare. The engraver of the piece is C. H. Küchler whose work was commonly restruck after his death. It is highly probable that this example is one of those restrikes but certainly dates to 1820 or before.

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1802 Peace of Amiens, Great Britain.

BHM 537

Bramsen 2171

 

898364.jpg

20mm RRRR Link

 

A very rare medal that looks almost identical to one of the most common of the period (see below). The main difference is the wording of Preliminaries and Definitive... The top one has an estimated mintage of 5.

 

1801 Preliminaries of the Peace of Amiens

 

898346.jpg

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There are five ships on the reverse and the three that are under sail appear to be defying the laws of physics and sailing straight into the wind. I know it's possible to sail pretty close to the wind but I don't think any of those ships could have done it in 1802. In fact the wind is blowing so hard that the ship to the left of the tower has lifted into the air!

 

Check out the patterns for the 1875 (I think I got the right date) US Trade Dollar. To the left of the foot of the seated liberty is a sail/steam ship under power. The sails are billowing forward, clearly under a full wind. The smoke from the steam engines is blowing aft! Clearly the ship is moving forward at such a high rate of speed that the sails could not be responding to the wind and should be serving as brakes. The laws of physics do not apply to coin designs.

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The laws of physics do not apply to coin designs.

 

Exactly, in fact the BHM 537 I posted (about two up from here) has ships within hailing distance of each other whose flags at the mastheads are blowing 180 degrees apart! :ninja:

 

I'd love to see the Trade Dollar pattern; got any pics? :lol:

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1802 Organisation de l'Instruction Publique, France

Bramsen 214

Laskey XXV

d'Essling 982

 

901563.jpg

40mm Link

 

When the French Revolution turned into an attack on the Christian religion it meant that public education suffered. Local education was performed by priests and nuns and for 10 years there really was no public education in France. One of the things Napoleon did was establish a Concordat with the Pope re-establishing the Catholic faith in France and indirectly, organized education.

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1802 Peace of Amiens, Great Britain.

BHM 539

Bramsen 204

d'Essling 966

 

903076.jpg

39mm Link

 

The principle negotiators of the Peace of Amiens were Lord Cornwallis of Surrender at Yorktown fame, and Joesph Bonaparte, soon to be King of Naples and later of Spain. The workmanship of this medal leaves much to be desired. Whoever engraved the reverse exergue didn't plan things out and had to squeeze "1802" into too small a space... It's much easier to see if you click on the link and then click on the reverse.

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I'd love to see the Trade Dollar pattern; got any pics? :ninja:

 

Let's try this:

 

15351.gif

 

If the ship is sailing to the left, then the foresail and smoke are headed in the right direction and the main sails are backwards. If its sialing to the right, then you have the opposite problem. You can find this and other images at: http://www.harrybassfoundation.org/sitemap.asp

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  • 3 months later...

1802 Promulgation du traité d'Amiens, France

Bramsen 218

d'Essling 983

 

903067.jpg

65mm Link

 

There aren't many medals with all three of the Consuls pictured. This one celebrates not only the peace with Great Britain but also the suppression / treaty internally in the Vendee.

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