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Message:: [QUOTE="cpm9ball, post: 2538396, member: 24633"]I was just guessing about the date of his death. I was using my reference set, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists by Forrer. I should have googled his name to find that out. I've been collecting French medals for a very long time, and "rare" is not quite the same when compared to coins. You can't equate value with rarity. It depends on the subject matter more than anything. Most French medals were produced in mintages less than 500 for private mints and mintages less than 1,000 for the Paris Mint. Look at the edge of your medal for the mintmark and metal composition. If there is no mintmark or either a "square" or "triangle", it was produced by a private mint. Also, you will note that the obverse has the name Arthus Bertrand on it. Arthus Bertrand et Beranger was a Paris firm that published medals, decorations, etc. and edited various artistic medals. In other words, Bertrand and Beranger provided the decoration for the reverse of your medal. This was not unusual even for medals from the Paris Mint. As a matter of fact, I have one medal from the Paris Mint in which the same obverse was used with three different reverse designs and one of them is even a plaquette. Chris[/QUOTE]