Ancient, British and World Coins, Historical and Art Medals

France, 1918. France. Deliverance of Alsace, 1918, cast bronze commemorative medal by Henry Dropsy, female figure representing Strasbourg throwing her arms around a mounted soldier, 1870-1918 nec desperaverunt above, engraved “a mr ernest gay les anciens du 32e d’artillerie” in exergue below, reverse three French soldiers and two young girls in Alsatian costume linking hands, strasbourg above, 22 novembre 1918 below, 81mm (See Dropsy Exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1964, no.39). Extremely fine

For France one of the most important and sentimentally satisfying results of the Treaty of Versailles was the recovery of Alsace and Lorraine the two regions lost after the disastrous defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.