Nederland, St. Helena medal or token n.d. Netherlands Napoleon medal Bonaparte op St Helena 1816 - Waar zal ik ontkomen - Dutch spotpenning - Slg Julius 3457 EF

Netherlands, satirical medal on Napoleon, around 1816, bronze.

One side: BONAPARTE OP ST HELENA in three lines, with the maker's monogram D & A.A below.
Other side: Napoleon seated on the rocks of the island by the sea, one arm stretched out, ships in the distance, and below the words WAAR ZAL IK ONTKOMEN.
Reference: Slg. Julius 3457.

After his defeat at Waterloo in 1815 Napoleon was sent to Saint Helena, a small British island far out in the Atlantic. He never left it again and died there in 1821. In the Netherlands people made small medals like this one to mock his fall. The picture shows him alone on the rocks, looking out at the sea, with the bitter question in Dutch, where can I still escape to. The ships in the background make the point plain, he is trapped and there is no way home. Medals like this were cheap to make and popular with ordinary people who had lived through long years of French rule and war. They are a piece of everyday history and show how the common man looked back at the emperor once he had lost his power.

vanzandwijkmunten: because one coin is never enough.

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Coins have been part of my life for almost thirty years. It started with the things I found in the ground as a boy, and it never stopped. First the searching, then the reading and figuring out, and the collecting. Dealing came much later, and even though it is how I make my living now, I still enjoy looking at every piece the way a collector does.

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Kind regards, Vincent

vanzandwijkmunten: Because one coin is never enough

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