Interesting items! Thanks for showing them.
These are medals, jetons, commemorating the death of the Princess Marie of Orléans (and Duchess of Wurttemburg by marriage) in 1839. She was the wife, of course, of the fellow on the 2nd piece. You can find more info on her here by searching the Wikipedia for Princess Marie of Orleans. Her full name was "Marie Christine Caroline Adélaïde Françoise Léopoldine of Orléans". Phew.
Highlights worth noting: she was a daughter of the last French king, Louis-Philippe I, the 'bourgeois' king of the July Monarchy. Died very young of tuberculosis in Italy. Though she married somewhat poorly, her husband was nonetheless linked by blood ties to King Frederick (Wurttemburg), King Leopold (Belgium), Alexander I and Nicholas I of Russia, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of England. Not too shabby connections, all things considered. Noted for her painting and sculpture.
The reverse of your first medal says that "An Angel Has Ascended to Heaven," January 2, 1839. Both medals were by a Mr. Petit (the F. means Fecit, 'made this'); off hand I don't recall if there's a Petit privy mark in the Paris Mint at this time.
They don't appear to me to be in very tip-top shape, indeed medal #2 looks like it was knocked around with some other coins or metal pieces. The first one has some off-coloring suggesting an encounter with chemicals. Still, only the true experts know how rare these types of commemorative medals are; you might do some hunting online to see if anyone has sold one of these or is selling one currently. From my personal observation French exonumia tends to fetch high values primarily when it has some connection to Napoleon I's era/reign/ medallic issues. Louis-Philippe, meh, perhaps less exciting to many.
Posted 05/17/2014 9:36 pm
