Paris Medal

I'm having trouble reading the legend - Could you please transcribe it.

This could be - emphasis on "could" - a certain type of token:
I'm being coy because CCF is "family friendly", and the last time one of these was posted, and I offered a description, I got a warning from a Moderator.

Anyway, in late 19th Century and early 20th Century France, there were commercial premises, and they provided services.
However, the provision of such services for money was illegal.
So the customer acquired a token from an intermediary.
The customer passed the token to the service provider.
Later, the provider returned the token to the intermediary, and got her cash.
The intermediary took a commission on the transaction.
By the interposition of the third party (the intermediary), and the token, an illegal transaction was rendered legal:
how cool is that ?
I've started collecting these, but, to date, my collection is very modest.
Whenever I see one in a catalogue, I make a note of it.
So far my list is a couple of dozen - mostly from Paris, but a few from other towns.
I suspect that they were made by a small number of manufacturers - some Verso sides are seen with several different Rectos.
I haven't seen yours before -
but your recto is a parody of coins of the republican era.

If my deliberate obscurity is too obscure, please PM me.

You have a nice token, with plenty of history !

I accept Alganbagerap's superior knowledge of French tokens.
The tokens I was discussing look very similar.
But I query the economic value to an engraver of making "advertising tokens" ...

Peter, I also collect the "other" tokens and shell cards you refer to. In this case the concept of having the makers name on one side is fairly common. Normally the obverse shows one of the makers stock images and his name on the reverse is by way of "Your name could go here". So basically it's a style sample.

The obverse has striking similarities to the type Peter mentions, probably mid to late C19th.