Medals

[CyberspaceVoid]

A friend offered me a box of medals in which many appear to be shooting (Schützenfest and Tir) medals from Switzerland. In evaluating these I have identified most with their Richter number, but a few remain unattributed and I wonder if someone may lead me to an answer as I have no catalogue....

 

1) "Exercices de L'arquebuse et de la Navigation" 47mm bronze by Hugues Bovy and dated 5-Oct-1895 (may not be a shooting medal but then ...)

 

2) "Cantonal Schutzenfest Beider Basel" 41mm bronze by Hans Frei dated 1906

 

3) "Souvenir Du Tir Cantonal" "Geneve" 43 mm bronze by C. Richard F. dated 1882

 

4) "Tir Federal Lausanne" 33mm 0.900 hafnium (I know, a weird composition but great during a neutron bomb attack ) by A. Lasserre dated 1954

 

5) "Eidgenossisches Schuzenfest" "St. Gallen" 33mm silverish medal by Huguenin dated 1904

 

6) "Tir du Village Suisse Paris 1900" 27mm silverish medal by Hantz . This one appears to be from a shooting competition at the Paris 1900 World Fair? The fair did have a complete Swiss Village that was built according to some wiki articles.

 

Finally I have a few oddball medals including ....

 

7) a 47mm bronze by E. Durussel dated 1888 commemorating the Battle of Naefels

 

8) a 33mm silver by an unsigned engraver commemorating the Battle of Calven and showing (amongst other things) the Swiss leader Benedict Fontana

 

 

Any help would be highly appreciative,

 

Wendy

 

 

edit: sizes may be off by 1mm as I am eyeballing it with a scale

[cpm9ball]

You might also try searching "Jetons". As a general rule, a jeton is considered a medal smaller than 38mm, so you might find some as crossovers to this category.

 

There are some collections of shooting medals in registry sets. Perhaps you could check there.

 

Chris

[CyberspaceVoid]

Well, I now own (in my grubby little hands) 6 out of the first lot of 21 medals made available to me... hopefully the next box will be coming soon with pictures of the ones I purchased. The six I chose were an odd assortment; four are metallic artistry, one is a world fair medal and the last I chose because of its composition and the resulting toning.

 

 

the aforementioned "Exercices de l'Arquebuse et de la Navigation" 47mm high relief bronze by Hugues Bovy dated 5-Oct-1895. This one apparently commemorates the founding of a shooting range near Geneva for the "Exercises" which is a musketry unit. Really a stunner in a magnificent uncirculated condition. I still cannot confirm a reference number for this piece or have found another like it online. Richter 687c

 

a mint state Richter-879b from the 1901 Federal Schützenfest in Lucerne by Hans Frei showing a helmeted Helvetica in high relief.

 

a Richter-251a of a 1906 Cantonal Schützenfest held in Biel by Holy FrS. While also mint it has a little streak of dark silver toning but fortunately in a non obtrusive place. The detailing is magnificent especially on the obverse in which a Swiss maiden is holding a victor's wreath over the town.

 

the 1906 bronze by Hans Frei from the "Cantonal Schützenfest Beider Basel" in MS condition. I chose this one for the reverse which shows in high relief a wounded citizen-soldier (Arnold Schick of Uri) who courageously fights on with a rock even though the town defenses have been soundly defeated (Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs). (Richter 131?) .... truly a testament to Swiss courage. History found here

 

a 27mm silver medal by Georges Hantz of the Tir (Schützenfest) held at the Suisse Village during the Paris World's Fair of 1900 and identical in design to Richter 2097b which is 37mm in size. While not as artistically compelling as the former medals (likely due to its smaller size) it may be the beginning of a new collection based on World Fairs and Exhibitions. And lastly ...

 

the previously mentioned 1954 Federal Tir (Schützenfest) of Lausanne created by A. Lasserre (Richter 1649?). Artistically it is rather boring to me with a Swiss general' profile on one side and a simple Swiss cross on the other, but the rare composition of the metal used in it has created a patina which created a fantastic display of muted blues and pinks on an otherwise perfect surface.

 

Pictures to follow ....