Medal I Bought On Ebay

Most French medals are marked on their rim;

Copper: cuivre
Silver: argent
sometimes it will be stamped: metal

Maybe your rim is stamped with one of these markings?

G'day, very interesting medal. I'm not into these, but I look at them from time to time, to admire the imagery, the craftmanship, and sometimes, the pure beauty of them. I find your medal quite interesting, although I don't pretend to understand it.

Rust: I can see a couple of dark patches on the obverse. I'm not sure that they are "rust", but. You might set your mind at ease if you run a magnet over the medal. If there's no attraction, then you're one step closer to identification. If you do have "magnetic silver", I'd keep it as a conversation piece.

Next step, measure the medal, and try to calculate what you would expect it to weigh if it was silver. Then weigh it: most non-silver metals and alloys, that look silver-like, are about one-third lighter than silver. If the weight's wrong, then it's not silver. If the weight's right, it probably is silver.

Whatever those spots are, I'd do something about them. If they are corrosion, then they'll probably "grow". If you search the CCF, under that rarely-spoken word "cleaning", there are suggested methods of removing corrosion, while minimizing potential further damage.

Back to the medal itself: I wonder what it was trying to commemorate &/or promote ?
obverse: very tall lady talking to a boy - he's hardly taller than his rifle. She is sitting on what appears to be a muzzle-loading cannon. The cannon is pointing in the direction of some soldiers who appear to be "charging". The soldiers, so far as I can see, are wearing the style of helmet worn by the French and Belgian soldiers in WW1. The boy has both hands over the muzzle of his rifle. When I was a soldier that would result in the award of "immediate, intense, remedial training", which was a lot similar to what earlier generations called "punishment".

Reverse: a lot of items there - stirrups; a book; a wheeled device; a helmet; a rifle; at least two swords; gloves; and a bugle. The lion seems to have been done-in already.

I wish my French was good enough for me to get a handle on the legend on each side.

I'd be interested to hear more from someone who can explain the medal.

I hope your efforts at conserving the medal are successful.


Peter in Oz

If it is rust and not some other stain or toning, it is possible that it is only a transfer stain from being in contact with an iron object. I found some generic silver coins in an old can of nails in a friends garage one time and the coins were a bit rusty from the nails. I did not bother cleaning them up and just sold them as bullion(after purchasing them from said friend) but that is not really an option in your case.

Mr .Finger Do you see on the revers on the vertical panel with the words "PRIX DU MINISTRE DE LA GUERRE" look over the words at the edge of the top panel and you will see the plane

G'day,
I think I can see an old style aeroplane. One tip of oits propeller is very near the muzzle of the rifle: am I right ?
Now, look to the left of the rifle, there is a spoked wheel, apparently in a fork, but I can't see mush else connected to it. Was the French Army big on unicycles back then ?
This is a very interesting medal.
Peter