Mariannimania

harasha

Blast it! Between Askari and Laurentyvan, I am now enamored of Marianne images on coins and medals. Now that you cretins have thoroughly caught my interest, can you recommend reference works and websites? Self

laurentyvan

Try this websitecgb.fr for the coins

and this one for Marianne

Here's a beauty available for $15.00Marianne

Askari

A "cretin"?? M'sieur, I am wounded to the quick!!

Fortunately, I forgive easily, especially when the accusation is true. Dubois' fantastically helmed Marianne medal is one of my most favorite. It should go for more and I'm surprised Linda's offering has taken no bids yet.

Laurent has offered some good sources, but you will have to become accustomed to searching out information on your own. Sad, but true. Such things are not as well documented as Darkside coins, I'm afraid. Alors!

harasha

Actually, I am quite used to doing web searches. In fact, where I work, people usually come to me to help with the search engines.
So, I actually did try to find some sites, but found little. For Marianne herself, Amazon did reference an out of stock book, in French, which I could struggle with, if needed.
Meanwhile, I am still searching for a reference on medals, in general.

theboz11

Somebody say Marianne

laurentyvan

Askari

Hey! I recognize that one, Boz!

Probably the best general reference on medals is Mark Jones' The Art of the Medal; London: British Museum Publications Ltd., 1979. It's offered regularly on eBay and can be had for less than $50. I haven't come across one in English on French medals, nor even a good one in French. While I don't speak French, I have picked up a few catalogs and such, but haven't found anything spectacularly useful. Your best bet are the Hôtel de la Monnaie exhibition catalogs, since they at least will have a thematic or style or period focus. The best I've found to date is La Médaille en France de Ponscarme à la fin de la Belle Époque, edited by Maurice Rheims, from a 1967 exhibition. It lists 1033 medals, illustrating many, prepared during the half century that preceded World War I.

One thing I need to mention about Marianne medals is that most are extremely common, so you should always feel comfortable about waiting for a better one as opposed to "if I don't nab this (flawed) one, I'll never get another chance." They were quite popular and used generally as obverses for many award medals, which often turn up uninscribed. The same design will typically be offered in bronze, silvered bronze, and gilt bronze and they may come in several sizes. The uncommon ones are usually those by particular artists who produced few.

Askari

Oh, and here's an example of what Marianne is not. This is Ceres, but not infrequently, eBay sellers will identify her as Marianne simply because the medal has French words on it -- as do Belgian medals, which do not carry Marianne at all (although sometimes a Liberty).