Napoleon III Satiricals Since Napoleon III coins were brought up in another thread I thought I would start one on Nap. III satirical tokens. After the Battle of Sedan it did not take long for re-engraved coins to appear showing Napoleon III wearing a spiked German helmet etc. The one on the left here is a prime example. The reverse shows the French Imperial Eagle with a rope noose and the letter “S” for Sedan on it’s chest. Shortly there after die struck versions were produced making for an extensive collecting field. The illustrated die struck version here coverts the Imperial Eagle into an owl to symbolize a vampire. Vampire was used as a subversion of Empire. The French legends and inscriptions are not hard to understand even for non French speaking collectors like myself.
Those are awesome. There were so many lasting effects of the Franco-Prussian War - a war largely un-noticed outside of France and Germany. A lot of old resentments built up and manifested themselves into WWI. The one aspect of particular interest to me is that my 3rd great grandfather decided he had had enough of sending sons to be "cannon fodder for Junker aristocratic wars" and sent my 2nd great grandfather on a one way trip to America.
Hmm, outside Europe maybe ... After all, that was the third war in a row that Prussia fought in the 1860 and 70s. First against Denmark (with Austria as an ally), then against Austria, then against France. Of the pieces that Fred shows us, the modified originals I find quite interesting. Christian
