16th century french aventuro/conquistador medallion/token/medal/fob

[Amroth]

Found while digging in my garden in Yorkshire (was a boys boarding school in the 19th century).

Almost exactly one inch in diameter. Not gold (maybe brass?).

Depicts a 16th century soldier holding a flag emblazoned with several small fleur-de-lys, which leads me to believe he's French (even if the object itself may not be).
The reverse is unadorned and was never meant to be displayed. It is corroded and greenish.

This is as far as my knowledge goes. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

Looks like a conquistador. Spain also used the Fleur De Lis. Could it have been a small brooch?

 

[Amroth]

perhaps, there's certainly no place for a chain, but if there was ever a clasp or some such fastening on the reverse no trace of it remains.

I thought the fleur-de-lys was only used by the Spanish Bourbons, which was 18th century - too late for this guys attire

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

perhaps, there's certainly no place for a chain, but if there was ever a clasp or some such fastening on the reverse no trace of it remains.

I thought the fleur-de-lys was only used by the Spanish Bourbons, which was 18th century - too late for this guys attire

I remember seeing the Fleur-De-Lis on old Spanish colonial coinage. Ill have to check the coin dates.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Are these considered Fleur De Lis bottom right above the lion on the shield? Look also top right. I believe they are on the cobs too. The same on your brooch/medallion/medal.

 

[jeff of pa]

This is listed in Hughes & Lester's Big Book of Buttons as a stamped & pierced brass button depicting Marcel from the opera Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer, popular in the 1890's. At the time of the book's publication (1981), this button was valued at $12. It would probably be worth 2-3 times that today, if not for the missing shank.

 

[Amroth]

Yeah, the fleur de lys was a ver common motif, however the flag most commonly used by Spain in the C16th was the Cross of Burgundy. If any heraldic motifs were to be singled out for display on a banner I would think it'd either be a castle and/or a lion (for Castille and Leon).

 

[Amroth]

thanks for the info, been puzzling over this for years! Must have fallen off a matrons or pupils clothing, it was a school until the early 1900s.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

This is listed in Hughes & Lester's Big Book of Buttons as a stamped & pierced brass button depicting Marcel from the opera Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer, popular in the 1890's. At the time of the book's publication (1981), this button was valued at $12. It would probably be worth 2-3 times that today, if not for the missing shank.

Ill bet that book will solve a lot of old threads.