Historical and Art Medals

Armand Barbès, 1848, a bronze medal by Delarue and Houzelot, bust left, rev. Republican symbol and clasped hands, 32mm. Rim flaws and a light die crack on reverse, otherwise extremely fine, rare (£60-80)

Provenance:
Baldwin Auction 31, 14-15 October 2002, lot 1287.

Armand Sigismond Auguste Barbès (1809-70), ‘romantic revolutionary’ and politician, born in Guadeloupe, twice escaped the death penalty and had sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Barbès was a prime mover in the Société des Saisons, a body that attempted a coup d’état in Paris in 1839; on release from prison in 1848 he conspired against Louis Philippe in the Revolution of 1848-9 and was again imprisoned, only to be released on the orders of Napoleon III in 1854