Summary

Medal Le Grand Duche de Varsovie 'The Duchy of Warsaw', Issued by Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor Napoleon I), France, 1807
Artists: Bertrand Andrieu and Nicholas Guy Antoine Brenet
Minted by Paris Mint

Obverse Description

Laureate head facing right; around, NAPOLEON EMP. ET ROI.; on neck truncation, ANDRIEU F.

Reverse Description

Gothic style Throne on which sits a crown; in field at left, a sword; in field at right, a sceptre; around above, PRISCA DECORA RESTITUTA.; in small letters near rim, BRENET . F DENON . D.; in exergue, OTHO III . BOLESLAO . A . MI . / NEAPOLIO . FREDERICO AUG. / A. MDCCCVII.;

Edge Description

Plain

Significance

"A medal struck by order of the French Government on the erection or restitution of the Grand Duchy of Varsovie (or Warsaw,) under the auspices of the Emperor of the French; at the peace of Tilsit between France and Prussia, among other domains, the greater part of Prussian Poland was ceded to the French, who gave it, under the title of the Duchy of Warsaw to the elector of Saxony, who then took the title of king of Saxony.

The superscription on the exergue of the reverse, alludes to Otho III. who first made the Empire of Germany elective, A. D. 996, and Boleslaus, who was the first king of the Poles, A. D. 999, and Frederico Augusta, who was now designated by the title of king of Saxony by Napoleon." Laskey p. 149

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