Medal France Napoleon III and Eugenie

Joyce, it seems that you have a medal showing the French Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie de Montijo. The design may or may not be the same as shown here on the page. You describe your medal as made of iron, pewter, zinc or a base metal, though we've found one struck in bronze with a gold plating. With these old medals, you often see the dies moving around and being reused for as long as the medal is relevant to strike, and so you often encounter the same medal struck in different metals.

The medal shown here bears the signature of 'CAQUÉ. F.'. I can't figure out what the F stands for, but it might be France. In any case, the engraver is Armand-Auguste Caqué, a French medalist and sculptor. The engraver is important because it gives a good idea of the value. Approximate catalog values are shown below:

BRONZE OR BASE METAL:
worn: $20 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $50
well preserved: $200
fully uncirculated: $500

SILVERED OR GILDED:
worn: $20
average circulated: $60
well preserved: $400
fully uncirculated: $800

MASSIVE SILVER:
worn: $150
average circulated: $200
well preserved: $500
fully uncirculated: $1000

The striking medal in our picture comes from iNumis in Paris. It sold for 351 euros (about $470 US dollars) in a 2013 auction. CoinQuest thanks iNumis for use of their coin photo. What a beauty!

As always, please read our Important Terminology page found at the top left in order to properly interpret the catalog values used on this page.
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