FRANCE medallet 1859 for the unification of Italy
$45.00
FRANCE, medallet, 1859, Obverse: 2 facing heads in ovals, in one NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR, in the other V. EMMANUEL ROI D’ITALIE, eagle above, lion and shield below, Reverse: GUERRE DE L’INDEPENDENCE ITALIENNE BATAILLE DE SOLFERINO GAGNEE LE 24 JUIN 1859, integral loop at top, brass, 23mm, AU
1 in stock
Description
As Emperor Napoleon III stuck his nose into all kinds of foreign adventures. One of his more successful bets was his sponsorship of Victor Emanuel II in the latter’s quest to unify Italy under his rule.
In France uniform detail and wearable awards became immensely popular from the 1850s to the 1950s, after which people got out of the habit. Everybody was going about their business wearing their award medal. Showed who they were, in a way.
Medals, awards, decoration, insignia, documents, equipment, of military, police, private, and irregular military style organizations. We sometimes sell small weapons but we do not sell working firearms. If a thing happens to be military but is hundreds of years old I stop thinking of it as a military thing and start thinking of it as a relic or an antiquity. I suppose that means that “militaria” really starts around the middle of the 19th century or so, when uniforms became normal. Does that seem right to you?
Over the decades I’ve been selling collectibles my market has been about 97% coins, 2% paper money, 1% everything else.
