Le Retour d'Astree - Bonaparte Pr. Consul

Descrizione

Form: Circular By: Jean-Pierre Droz Date: 1802 Ref: Laidlaw: 0565k; Variations: Size Metal Mass 40.2 mm Gilded Bronze 32.3 gm Edge: Silver and gilt medals in raised lettering: "PAIX GENERALE A AMIENS AN DIX MDCCCII" with ornaments and mint marks between reeding above and below. Restruck bronze medal, plain stamped with "CUIVRE" and cornucopia mark of the Paris mint. Obverse: Toothed border round the rim. Bare head of Napoleon, left. Signed: "DROZ F." on the truncation. Legend: "BONAPARTE PR. CONSUL DE LA REP. FRAN." Reverse: Toothed border round the rim. Astrea descending to earth below, scales in left hand, caduceus and olive branch in right. Legend: "LE RETOUR D'ASTREE" followed by wheat ears. Signed: "DROZ F." Around the rim at the foot. Notes: Reference: Bramsen 194, 199; Essling 960. Astrea (star-maiden) was the Greek virgin goddess of innocence and purity and last of the immortals to live on Earth. According to legend her prophesied return would herald a rebirth of the Golden Age in Greek mythology. Jean-Pierre Droz (1746 - 1823) was a coin and medal engraver born in Switzerland and trained in Paris. Droz was best known for his engraving of Napoléon used on French coins. He invented a press that used a collar in sections to form the edge at the same time as the obverse and reverse were being struck. This press was used to strike the silver and gilt medals here. The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the France and Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. A preliminary agreement was signed in London on 30 September 1901 by Lord Hawkesbury (Britain) and Louis Guillaume Otto (France) and the Definitive Treaty of Peace was signed at Amiens in France on 25 March 1802 by Joseph Bonaparte (Napoléon's brother) and the Marquess Cornwallis (Britain). The Peace of Amiens lasted only 14 months and the uneasy truce ended when Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803. The Napoleonic Wars and the Treaty of Amiens in particular