MEDAL OF SAINT HELENA IN ITS BOX, model 1857, bronze model, Second Empire. 27123

MEDAL OF SAINT HELENA IN ITS BOX, model 1857, bronze model, Second Empire. 27123

Obverse presenting the profile of Emperor Napoleon I, reverse bearing the text: “Campaigns from 1792 to 1815. To his companions in glory, his last thought, May 5, 1821”, upper part in the shape of an imperial crown. Green silk ribbon with red vertical stripes.
This bronze medal is worn in the buttonhole, suspended from a green and red ribbon with very narrow stripes, 21 mm wide. Due to the patina of the bronze, it is nicknamed “the chocolate medal”.
Diameter: 3.1 cm
Cardboard box with a lid covered with glossy white paper bearing the Imperial Eagle in relief and the inscription “To the companions of glory of Napoleon I - Decree of August 12, 1857”.

France.
Second Empire.
Good condition, exposed ribbon.

NOTE :
Considered the first French “commemorative medal” for veterans of the campaigns of the First Empire, designed and created by the sculptor Désiré-Albert Barre.
It is estimated that around 405,000 soldiers of Napoleon's Grande Armée (French, Belgians, Danes, Irish, etc.) benefited. The figures are approximate due to the disappearance of the archives in the fire of the Palace of the Legion of Honor during the Commune.