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[BAUDIN] MONTAGNY, P.A.
Medal commemorating the voyages of the corvettes commanded by Captain Baudin . Obverse: Portrait of Napoléon 'Bonaparte Premier Consul de La Rep. France'. Reverse: 'Les Corvettes Le Géographe et Le Naturaliste, Commandées par le Capitaine Baudin'.
France, Pierre Montagny, An 9, 1800.
White metal medal, 38 mm, attractive silver-gray patina, peripheral die break obverse, reverse "Die 2" (with 'C' over 'B'), very fine.
Very uncommon issue of this rare voyage medal, commemorating the departure of the Baudin ships Géographe and Naturaliste for Australia and the Pacific. The medal was known to have been struck in various metals, including the more familiar silver and bronze, but it is not clear exactly what numbers were created of each sort. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that the Baudin medal was issued in several unusual metals, including pewter and, as here, in white metal. This is the first such example we have handled, and it has an attractive silver-gray patina, almost like zinc.
There are various references to the presence of such medals on the expedition. For example, as Peter Lane has pointed out in the Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia (volume 8), off the coast of Le Havre an English captain went aboard the Géographe, and Baudin later wrote about the incident in his journal, 'upon his departure, I begged him to accept a medal struck to commemorate the voyage, he did with pleasure, and then we parted'.
At King George's Sound in Western Australia, Baudin found two monuments erected by natives, either side of a stream. They were surrounded by eleven finely tapered spears painted red at the tips with eucalyptus resin. Baudin speculated that what he had found were two warriors' graves and he forbade anyone to deface them. He then placed 'two medals and some glass beads on each one'.
The portrait is of Napoleon, first consul of the French Republic, and the great sponsor of the Baudin voyage.
Bramsen, I, 72; Milford Haven, 174.
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