FRANCE bronze medal 1826 for a then famous scientist
$110.00
FRANCE, medal, 1826, Obverse: bust L, THORBERNUS BERGMAN, SALMON . F., Reverse: NATUS WESTRO GOTHA. AN . M . DCC . XXXV. OBIT AN . M . DCC . LXXXIV. SERIES NUMISMATICA UNIVERSALIS VIRORUM ILLUSTRIUM. M . DCCC . XXVI. DURAND EDITIT, Edge: plain, bronze, 41mm, 39.96g, a few minor spots, AU
1 in stock
Description
Thorbern Berman was an 18th century scientist who did most of his work in Sweden.
France has been a hotbed of numismatic activity since Celtic times in the 3rd century BC. People making their own coins (tokens, imitations, counterfeits) was a normal activity wherever and whenever there was a coin shortage. Keeping in mind, of course, in this coinless age, that coins were THE way people did business until the 20th century. In France they were using tokens in the normal, local way we think of tokens being used, from the 15th century.
There are two kinds of things that are called “medals.” One is things that look like coins but don’t express a value. Sometimes those medals are considerably larger than most coins. The other kind of medal is a metal thing designed to be displayed on one’s chest, often a reward for something, often in a military context. If the medal is small enough it is sometimes called a “medallet.”
