1658 Medal Betts-39

Coin Details

Description

This 1658 medal, Betts-39, commemorates events at Dampville during the mid-seventeenth century period of French colonial expansion in the Americas. By the 1650s, France was consolidating its colonial holdings in Canada (New France), the Caribbean, and along the Mississippi River. Cardinal Mazarin, who directed French policy during Louis XIV's minority, pursued an aggressive colonial agenda that would eventually make France the dominant European power in much of North America. This medal documents French colonial activities during a period when the foundations of France's vast American empire were being laid, from the St. European courts employed specialized medalists whose skills in miniature portraiture and allegorical composition made them essential figures in the propaganda machinery that supported colonial expansion. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico.

Rarity Notes

Rare. French colonial medals from the 1650s are scarce in all compositions.

Cross References

Betts-39