Historical and Art Medals, Numismatic Books

France, Victor Canale, c. 1912, a bronze medal by H. Dropsy, Canale seated at his workbench, peering through a magnifier at a die, a graving tool in his right hand, rev. a representation of Greek coins superimposed on engraving tools, 30mm. Extremely fine, rare (£60-80)

The medal manufacturing business at 37 quai de l’Horloge, Paris, started by C. Durant in 1827, passed to Auguste Godard and thence to Victor Canale in 1912. Both Godard and Canale first made their names by publishing medals by Oscar Roty; Canale soon extended his oeuvre by publishing medals for Dropsy, Desvignes, Schwab and others before the outbreak of World War I and by the mid-1920s was responsible for a wide range of issues by the French medallists of the day