Jump to content
CoinPeople.com

1857 Médaille de Ste. Hélène, France.


Recommended Posts

1857 Médaille de Ste. Hélène, France.

988093.jpg

32mm

Bramsen 2058

d'Essling 3033

 

You wouldn't know it reading the writeups on the Bay but over 400,000 of the 50mm version of this medal were issued to surviving veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. The fact that there were that many survivors 42 years after the wars ended is a testament to the sheer numbers who participated. What is rare is the associated emphemera providing provenance to a particular example.

 

This piece is one of the 32mm version. All the smaller versions, including this one, were purchased from the Paris mint, probably to be proudly worn at annual parades under the Second Empire. The larger, government version, is too large to comfortably wear. Because the smaller ones were not provided free to the vets they were usually well taken care of. This is a rather worn example; I like to think that the vet who forked over 2 francs (nearly half a days' wages) willed it to a favorite grandchild and so on until even his descendants no longer remembered his glory days and I gave it a new home.

 

My wife says I'm a romantic...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I like to think that the vet who forked over 2 francs (nearly half a days' wages) willed it to a favorite grandchild and so on until even his descendants no longer remembered his glory days and I gave it a new home.

 

My wife says I'm a romantic...

 

More power to you, the World could do with many more :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, certainly better a Romantic than a simple investor. However, giving these medals a home, Vern, means you may over time have absorbed some Napoleonic spirit. Do you sometimes feel a need to put your hand inside your coat? or find yourself calculating height and trajectory for your cannon when you see one of your neighbors' houses that you'd rather not have to look at?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...