Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 418 11 Apr 2018
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FRANCE, Troisième République. 1870-1940. Æ Medal (68mm, 116.4 g). "Defense de la Patrie". By Marie Lucien Coudray. Nude male figure standing right; behind to left, Marianne standing right, pointing to rihgt, and holding olive branch; pile of arms and armor to lower right / Firing range with stacks of rifles and various military implements around. EF.
Collector's note: "This pre-WWI French art-nouveau medal celebrates the virtue of military preparedness. On obverse, an armored female personification of France with a nude draft-age male, standing before his plowed field, points him past his limited, bucolic vision. On reverse, military paraphernalia, bicycle, targets, no people, and a blank area for engraving. Coudray's soft, gorgeous art-nouveau styling, typical of his always excellent medals, belie a militarism and nationalism worthy of the Germans!"
Collector's note: "This pre-WWI French art-nouveau medal celebrates the virtue of military preparedness. On obverse, an armored female personification of France with a nude draft-age male, standing before his plowed field, points him past his limited, bucolic vision. On reverse, military paraphernalia, bicycle, targets, no people, and a blank area for engraving. Coudray's soft, gorgeous art-nouveau styling, typical of his always excellent medals, belie a militarism and nationalism worthy of the Germans!"