I have inherited a coin or medal that my great grandfather got while in Europe during World War I. The top says "Ville de Douai" and below in a banner it states "Gloire Aux Vainquers 1302." I have no idea as to the value, The Toronto Star (a national newspaper) researched it and said they could find nothing about it, but offered my great grandfather $500 for it. Any information would be much appreciated. An image of the coin can be found at: http://billy_dennis.tripod.com/douai.jpg Thanks, Billy
It looks like a French medal or test piece. The blank area may be space to have it inscribed to a recipient. It looks to have been made sometime in the 19th century, definitely not in 1302. The legend says something like 'Glory to the conquerors' perhaps an 1802 or 1902 commemorative reference to a 1302 battle at the northern 'city of Douai'.
Babelfish.com translates the inscripitions from French as "Town of Douai, Glory in Vainquers 1302" A Google search for "Vainquers 1302" found a site with multiple historical entries of some kind that I couldn't read. The 1302 entry is: Unfortunately Babelfish comes up with gibberish in trying to translate that from French, Spanish or Portugese! Brad is undoubtedly correct in thinking it was made in the 19th century (around 1802 perhaps?), and it seems to be commemorating something that happened (500 years earlier?) in 1302, involving Pope Boniface VIII.
However, a friend has now translated that passage from Portugese, and apparently Phillip the Handsome called a meeting at Douai of the principal french "General States" in 1302, because he wanted to frustrate the ecunemical council proposed by the Pope Boniface VIII, which would have affected three of the states in his kingdom. Apparently the meeting was successful, as the lower inscription possibly translates as "Glorious Victory in 1302".
