Help identifying ?!?

[NickL78]

I have no clue what I dug up today. This thing is heavy! Brass, copper ? It has letters on the bottom but I just can’t make them out! The last four are FNES or FNFS. It has a hole punched in the top and it also appears to be a casting. I’ve searched all day but came up with nothing.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Yep, I’m sure of it... it’s definitely Lionel Richie !

Red Coat, thank you very much for the insight as well as the research you put into this. Great job and thank you. One thing you said was “I bet that looked impressive when it was first struck”. I wonder if it was struck or casted to appear much older , and I do believe this may be a casting. Note some bubbling effect which Is common in casted material. I really do appreciate the help! I’m going to dig around a little more to see what I can come up with as far as the age.

You're welcome. Didn't need too much research... the statue is a famous antiquity (over here at least) for anyone with an interest in ancient Greco-Roman stuff. Yes, it might be cast since it doesn't have the 'crispness' of detail usually seen in struck items but I wouldn't be sure about that either way. Not for an item which has been in the ground for an undetermined period and might even have been plated at one time. If it was an award, it might conceivably have come in bronze, 'silver' and 'gold' (but plated, not solid). What I am sure about is that it's unlikely to be before 1900. The statue wasn't discovered (or rather re-discovered) until 1896 and it was a short while before it was properly conserved for museum display and then became well-known.

 

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[DCMatt]

I’ll bet that looked impressive when first struck.

The obverse portrait is taken from one of the best known and finest examples of bronze statues from ancient Greece: the “Charioteer of Delphi”, also known as "Heniokhos". Here is the head of that statue:
It originally stood at Delphi to commemorate the victory of the tyrant Polyzalus of Gela’s chariot in the Pythian Games of Sicily in 470 BC and is now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum.

As an image, it has been frequently and variously used as a symbol of fine artistry, a decorative allusion to culture and as a symbol of achievement in sport and other activities. Here he is on a modern French artistic commemorative medal, and an ornate souvenir paper-clip, circa 1940s… so you can see how widely the portrait was used.



I don’t know what your particular medal might be, but the reverse image will be the key to that. It doesn’t appear to be a chariot but might be a games arena/stadium or something similar. I would think it probably a sporting award or some kind of recognition for artistic achievement.

Great ID, again!

The reverse is the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

 

[NickL78]

That’s definitely it. [emoji106]