 France. Louis XIV. Felicitas Domus Augustae, 1693. Obverse signed TB in ligature (T.Bernard). Betts 75 (types and layout of the largest size). Silver. 41.2mm. 607.1 gns. Rims 2.7 - 3.3mm thick. Bust right of Louis XIV; bust left of the dauphin above accollated busts of his three children. Looped at the top for wearing, possibly remounted, older style loop with point at apex. Plain edge. About Extremely Fine. Deep silver gray toning. Very rare in this size. No obvious signs of die damage either side.
That medals were signs of loyalty and trust among Native Americans, who took these symbols very seriously, can be seen in the following extracts from the New York State Museum, Bulletin 73 (Archaeology 8: Metallic Ornaments of the New York Indians, 1903, pp.53-54): ''Two Iroquois chiefs gave up their English medals to Vaudreuil in Aug. 1756. In December [1756]...an Oneida chief gave up two English medals to the French, saying: 'Father. We can not retain two medals which we have formerly had the folly to accept from our brethren, the English, as a mark of distinction. We acknowledge that these medals have been the true cause of our errors, and that they have plunged us into bad business. We strip ourselves of them; we cast them from us, in order not to think any more of the English.' To take off the medal was to renounce friendship or allegiance, and this the French encouraged when English medals were worn. A Seneca chief, who wore an English medal in 1757, said to Governor Vaudreuil: 'I tear off the medal of the King of England, which hangs from my neck and trample it underfoot.'''
Ex Jean Vinchon's sale of December 3, 1984, lot 713.
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