QUERY: LUCIEN COUDRAY’S ORPHEUS PLAQUE

One of my long term collecting interests is the wide variety of sizes, metals, edge hallmarks, and presentation types of Lucien Coudray’s ubiquitous but beautiful Orpheus At The Gates Of Hell medallic design, first appearing at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. For over a hundred years it has been one of the most popular issues of the Monnaie de Paris, and restrikes continue to be produced at the Monnaie to this day. Having recently procured what I consider to be a very unusual example, I thought your readers might be interested in seeing it and/or giving their thoughts or opinions if it is what I believe it to be. It came out of the estate of a French collector of medals.

This piece is a large, 18 inch (46 cm) diameter Orpheus obverse plaque, which was marketed as an iron or bronze cast item. It is actually a copper plaque and is relatively light in weight for it’s size at 2.25 kg. It is about 3-4 mm thick and the rim will flex a little if tested. It had 3 old attachment nuts soldered to the reverse in a haphazard triangle configuration originally, one of which is gone now, and an old time hanger was subsequently soldered on the reverse in the correct position to properly orient the Orpheus when hung on a wall.

I think this Orpheus is an early 1900’s copper galvano and it is, except for it’s larger size, a near twin to a smaller 170 mm Orpheus copper galvano in my collection. This is, however, the first Orpheus of this size that I have seen, and so I am interested in any observations the medal experts of The E-Sylum could share.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web