French Medal - Louis XIII / Façade of the Louvre by Pierre Regnier

Iosephus

Louis XIII / Façade of the Louvre

by Pierre Regnier, 1624


Bronze, 33.2 mm Ø, 20.6 g

Obverse: Laureate bust of Louis XIII facing right. Around, · LVD · XIII · D · G · FRANCORVM · ET · NAVARÆ · REX · (Louis XIII, by the Grace of God, King of the French and Navarre).

Reverse: A portion of the façade of the Louvre. Around, · POSCEBANT HANC · FATA · MANVM · (Fate Demanded This Hand). In exergue, the date · 1624 · .

Foundation medal for an extension to the Louvre in Paris. Louis XIII laid the foundation stone for this extension in July of 1624. A number of these medals were buried under it as foundation deposits, while others were distributed. The extension, known later as the Pavillon de l'Horologe and more recently as the Pavillon Sully, was completed c. 1639-40.

References: Jones 95; Pollard (NGA) 655

WillieBoyd2

Fascinating medal!

Swampboy

That is a lovely medal.

asheland

STLNATS

Interesting, historic piece Joe. Gotta ask my usual question, is this contemporary or later and how can you tell?



Congrats either way and thanks for sharing.

Iosephus

Originally posted by: STLNATS
Interesting, historic piece Joe. Gotta ask my usual question, is this contemporary or later and how can you tell?

I'll respond with my usual warning that "I don't know", but based on the strike quality, plain but slightly irregular edge, and beautiful patina, it feels like a contemporary or early strike. For what it's worth, the seller had it listed as being an "original", though of course we all know how much that really counts for.

STLNATS

Originally posted by: Iosephus

Originally posted by: STLNATS

Interesting, historic piece Joe. Gotta ask my usual question, is this contemporary or later and how can you tell?

I'll respond with my usual warning that "I don't know", but based on the strike quality, plain but slightly irregular edge, and beautiful patina, it feels like a contemporary or early strike. For what it's worth, the seller had it listed as being an "original", though of course we all know how much that really counts for.

In future to save keystrokes, I'll just post "question 4" and you can respond with "answer 2" (yes LOL).



I noticed the irregular flan, lite wear on the obverse high points (hair) and no mention of an edge mark so figured it was not very recent. It's helpful to hear how you're looking these so I appreciate your thoughts.



As a sidebar, after reading the novel finally last year, I have been toying with the idea of putting together some of the coins/medals (I hesitate to use the term set) around the time of The Three Musketeers. There's a lot of coin references in the novel and since this is just a bit later it definitely caught my attention. There is a bunch of other stuff I'm already chasing so the urge has been resisted so far, but suspect I'll succumb at some point.



What fun!

Iosephus

Originally posted by: STLNATS
In future to save keystrokes, I'll just post "question 4" and you can respond with "answer 2" (yes LOL).

I noticed the irregular flan, lite wear on the obverse high points (hair) and no mention of an edge mark so figured it was not very recent. It's helpful to hear how you're looking these so I appreciate your thoughts.

As a sidebar, after reading the novel finally last year, I have been toying with the idea of putting together some of the coins/medals (I hesitate to use the term set) around the time of The Three Musketeers. There's a lot of coin references in the novel and since this is just a bit later it definitely caught my attention. There is a bunch of other stuff I'm already chasing so the urge has been resisted so far, but suspect I'll succumb at some point.

What fun!

LOL!

Your idea for a themed "set" sounds very interesting, and I'd love to see any pieces you pick up if you do give in!