In a currency thread someone asked me to post images of my French medals. Well, here are some of them. This is my first attempt. I'm trying to get the lighting down before moving on to consistent focus and presentation.
more medals. I'm using a $13.00 tripod from walmart, old 35mm slide container, 150w tungsten light bulb and a piece of matboard for a light reflector, and a seven year old 7.1 mp camera. At this point, it looks like I got what I paid for.
that is some medal with the woman holding what I assume is a harp. do you have the ability to crop the other photos to get a better closeup of the medals.
If you're talking about the first medal it is Flight. She's standing on one leg. The reverse is very cool as well. It's one of my all time favorite medals. Notice the Mercury style wings on her ankles. I'm using Infraview. Yes, I can crop out the images and make them larger after I learn how to do it. The last medal, NYC, I saw at a Whitman coin show years ago. After seeing it I had to buy medals from the French Mint.
Those are really nice! Never seen them. That flight/mercury woman is really elegant. I'm also partial to the Manhattan cityscape cluster of buildings, I see the Chrysler building nestled in there. Do these medals have specific detailed names you can post with the images to identify them? While the images are a little dark, I kind of like them that way, they look mysterious. Thanks for sharing,
Sorry, I'm also wondering what is the official name for this genre of French medals? And if there are reference books on them. Thanks.
I ordered them from the mint's website. http://www.monnaiedeparis.com/collectionneurs/med.htm When I get some down time I'll go back to the website and retrieve the names of the medals. The mint hasn't been responsive to my questions. I haven't googled any of them The French mint has a long history of creating medals. Thanks. I'm figuring out the lighting. Right now I'm using 150 watt tungsten bulb in a metal reflector coming from the side direct light is blocked by a 35mm slide box so no direct light strikes the medals. Will add a piece of glass at a 45 degree so the light reflects from it. Absolutely no direct light so I should be able to get some good photos but I'm struggling with the limitations of the old camera.
Midas! 'I (heart) NY' and that medal is so chaotic-cool to me! Can I ask, do you order direct from the French Mint at the link above? Do you have any pointers or experiences regarding their service? Are you shipping from France to US? How long does it take to receive orders? Is there a domestic US source or specialist/dealer you like to buy from? Thanks.
Hi Krispy, I agree the NYC medal is outrageous. It's the first one I bought. It's 3" in diameter and varies from 1/4" to 1/2" thick. Big sucker. I just checked the website and it'll cost about 50.17 euros (about $70.00) plus s/h. Funny story about how I discovered it. I always order direct from the mint. The first order took about a month orders after that were delivered in about two weeks I think. They were shipped from France. With the sinking dollar, exchange rate and shipping I stopped buying them for now http://www.monnaiedeparis.com/collectionneurs/med.htm I believe Talisman Coins is the US Rep for the French Mint. Good Luck
Midas and others interested, I was just doing some reading online to get familiar with some medals links and such resources and wanted to share these two I liked: Historical Art Medals Medal Collectors International Art Medal Federation American Medallic Sculpture Assoc.
