ITALY Francesco Crispi bronze medal 1899

Description

Francesco Crisi was friends with Mazzini and Garibaldi, and was active in the unification movement. He was twice Prime Minister in the 19th century. He was an architect of the Italian international position of friendship with the British in opposition to the French. His political orientation was “leftist” but his ruling style was authoritarian.

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.”

The word “exonumia” is used to describe all kinds of things that are “like” coins but are not coins. I wrote a blog post on that subject. Basic categories: 1. used like a coin but not issued by a national government, 2. looks like a coin but not made for spending, 3. other things that we are interested in.