£150
France, The Four Sergeants of La Rochelle, 1844, Bronze Uniface Cast of a Medal Obverse (96mm/90gm) by David DAngers. Central fasces with Phrygian cap, facing paired busts of the four sergeants either side, below, inscribed biographical information (name, age, etc.) (Reinis 435; cf. Chesneau 346, a "Grand Médallion", 46cm diam; Bergot 159). Extremely Fine.
The two sides of the medal were made separately, the 'reverse' showing Liberty [Marianne] wearing a Phrygian cap and placing wreaths on an executioner's block. The soldiers, Sergeant Major Jean François Louis Leclere Bories (aged 27), Sergeant Charles Paul Goubin (aged 25), Sergeant Major Jean Joseph Pommier (aged 26) and Sergeant Martin Charles Bonaventure Raoulx (aged 22), were condemned to death in 1822 for conspiring against the Restoration government of Louis XVIII and the Bourbon monarchy. The medal was issued by David as une dette sacré to commemorate martyrs to the cause of liberty.
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