For some years I have had a thin cardboard cover publication of 60 pages, dated Fevrier 1968 covering "Medailles France-Amerique" (see cover illustration). It not only describes restrikes from the 1600s but also newer medals such as the Duke Ellington medal from 1967. Everything listed was available for sale in 1968. I believe very few of these medals are available for sale today.

Wonderful response to the question about Paris Mint Medals! One correspondent mentioned a familiar name: Mint Director Pierre DeHaye, under whose direction the Mint's world leadership in the art of the medal reached its peak. My colleague at Coin World Courtney L. Coffing and I were received by Director DeHaye on May 4, 1977 and accorded a guided tour of the historic Mint. A highlight was the die storage hall with its massive steel die-storage units on tracks that housed thousands of dies. In repose these formed a kind of titanic Ribik's cube. Pressing buttons on a console caused this cube to open majestically like an immense flower to allow access to any die desired.

I treasure the 64mm, 147.14-gram Paris Mint Medal in .925 Silver presented to me with edge inscription DAVID T. ALEXANDER 4 MAI 1977, Edgemarked 1974 Cornucopia 1 Argent.

The Mint underwent some political upheaval after DeHaye's ouster. A Socialist appointee took office and promptly gave to his mistress the long-guarded key to the collection of Napoleonic medals deposited by the Emperor himself before Waterloo. A number of these historic medals were promptly stolen, resulting in considerable scandal. Louis XVIII himself did not loot his enemy's collection in the heat of war. In the ensuing crackdown, the trail-blazing Bulletin of the Club Francais de la Medaille was cropped back to a ghost of its former luxurious, glossy-paged self and the Paris Mint faded from its world leadership in the art of the medal.