NEW BOOK: A NAPOLEONIC MEDAL PRIMER

Medals recording the meteoric career of Napoleon Bonaparte have fascinated collectors for more than two centuries. The Monnaie de Paris has produced the majority of existing Napoleonic pieces and continues striking many today, including many such later issues as the 1840 Retour des Cendres and the 2021 Bicentenary of the Emperor's death. In all this time there has never been a comprehensive English language survey of the Napoleonic series to introduce the American collector to this fascinating subject. This book does not pretend to include every Napoleonic medal ever issued, but presents a survey to aid beginning or advanced collectors wishing to explore this fascinating field.

The title, The Napoleonic Medal Primer, has been chosen to express what this book is and is not. Napoléon Bonaparte (born 1769, died 1821) bestrode the world of his day like a colossus and left behind one of history's most extensive medallic fossil records which has continued to grow centuries after his death on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena.

This book will offer an introduction to and survey of medals of Napoleonic interest from the French Revolution to modern times, and is directed in large measure toward American collectors. The term Primer, pronounced Primmer in the UK and Pry-mer in the U.S., has been chosen to avoid suggesting that this is an encyclopedic coverage of all Napoleonic material, which would include significantly more medals than can be covered here.

 

This work is initially built on medals that the author has personally collected, examined, cataloged and recorded since the early 1950s, in other words, a record of what is known to exist. The text is directed toward but not certainly limited to the particular needs of both beginning and experienced collectors, including a basic medallic vocabulary, to present and clarify the use of terms that often baffle collectors coming over from the world of coins. Particular attention will be paid to clarifying the restrike issue, contrasting Paris Mint practice with the limited and restrictive American understanding of this troublesome term.

Similarly, the critical role of PATINAS used on Copper and Bronze medals over the centuries will be addressed, along with description of the all-important EDGE MARKINGS of Paris Mint medals and their relation to dating

Author David Thomason Alexander became interested in medals in the 1950s. He founded Medal Collectors of America in 1998 as the first American organization devoted to collectors of U.S. and world art and commemorative medals. His earlier works include American Art Medals 1909-1995 (American Numismatic Society, 1995) and Medals of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans... an Under-utilized Resource in American Medallic Art (Newman Numismatic Portal, 2019).

ASIN : B0BLCQ5R9N
Publisher : Independently published (November 2, 2022)
Language : English
Paperback : 189 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8359099264
Item Weight : 1.24 pounds
Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.45 x 11 inches

Author Alexander adds:

For more information, or to order, see:
A Napoleonic Medal Primer Paperback (https://www.amazon.com/Napoleonic-Medal-Primer-Thomason-Alexander/dp/B0BLCQ5R9N/ref=sr_1_1)

To read on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
A Napoleonic Medal Primer (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/618630)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web