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Napoleon Medals
Zoins
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I've found Napoleon's medals to be well varied and artistic. A while back I picked up this specimen marriage medal in gilt bronze from Dale Sigler's collection. This particular one is by Jean-Bertrand Andrieu, Julien-Marie Jouannin & Dominique Vivant, Baron de Denon.
Does anyone else collect Napoleon medals?
Here's the Dale Sigler image from the sale:
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I've always been a fan of the series---simple yet elegant busts on the obverse with really artistic and interesting reverse types. One of my faves has to be the Simplon mountain pass allegory.
Jeremy Bostwick
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That's a handsome medal. Napoleonic medals are a bit more modern than the period that I focus on, but there are some nice designs. If you're interested, there's a brief audio commentary on Napoleonic medals by one of the foremost experts on commemorative medals:
http://interactive.britishart.yale.edu/critique-of-reason/528/commentary-by-stephen-scher
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
I'm not sure if this is considered a "Napoleon Medal," but it is a gold medal depicting Napoleon and awarded by him.
A little background. Napoleon awarded prize medals in the arts. At first, these were gold medals, but as many recipients were literally starving artists, the medals usually got sold and melted to pay for living expenses. Later, the awards were just money which saved work all around (minting it, engraving it, melting it). Here is a rare one that escaped the melting pot.
The reason I bought it is due to the numismatic connection. Thomas & Uhlhorn was a fabric company started by Diedrich Uhlhorn, who shortly after receiving this medal for his fabrics, invented the knuckle coining press. Prior to his invention, coin presses were steam-driven screw presses (invented by Boulton & Watt in the late 1700s). Screw presses were good but slow. Uhlhorn's knuckle press made high-speed coining possible. Later, people like Thonnelier refined and perfected the Uhlhorn design. This design is still used in coin presses today.
This medal was held by the descendants of the Uhlhorn family until I bought it at auction in 2011.
This one is listed in Brown's British Historical Medals.
Very nice, thanks for sharing !!!
Nice medal! That's very clean and there's a lot of detail in the design!
Given that mine is gilt, I've always wondered what a gold one looks like and now I know. Here's a PCGS SP55 which I ran across on the bay.
I added my photo below for easier comparison because these two are attributed to different artists.
1810 Gold - Bramsen-955 - PCGS SP55 POP 1/0
1810 Gilt Bronze - Bramsen-952 - PCGS SP62 POP 1/0 - Ex-Dale Sigler
Here are the slab photos for reference:
The portraits in the medal by Galle appear to depict a much older couple than the medal by Andrieu. I'm guessing the Andrieu portraits are idealized while the Galle portraits are more true to life.
Not a collector of Napoleon medals, but one of my Herbemont medals has him on the obverse.
DPOTD
@Zoins what do you think about this guy? It's the only Napoleonic item I have. Tried to research it but not much luck. Bronze, 18g, 31.8 mm, maybe coronation.
Peace Roy
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It is one of the coronation medals, this one based on a German token (see jetton on reverse). I published a similar coronation jetton on my Bonaparte discussion.