Origin: France
Date: circa 1890–1940
Materials
Mixed devotional metals, including silver tone and bronze tone alloys, assembled on metal rings.
I would not claim sterling silver for any of these without seeing hallmarks.
French devotional medal cluster, circa 1890–1940
A remarkable collection of antique French devotional medals gathered together upon a single metal ring, likely accumulated across years of prayer, pilgrimage and private devotion.
Rather than a single manufactured object, this appears to be a deeply personal assemblage. Medals of different sizes, shapes, metals and periods have been added one by one, creating a small portable archive of faith.
Among them are images of the Virgin, the Sacred Heart and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, alongside medals commemorating particular shrines and devotions. One bears the tender French invocation:
Cœur de Jésus, j’ai confiance en vous.
Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Another calls simply:
Sainte Thérèse, priez pour nous.
Saint Thérèse, pray for us.
Several of the medals show considerable wear, their surfaces softened by touch and time. Others retain tiny architectural and figurative details: churches, saints, apparitions, hearts, flowers and scenes of prayer.
Together they form something more intimate than a collection of medals.
They form a record of devotion.
In Catholic tradition, medals such as these might be acquired at a sanctuary, received to mark a pilgrimage or sacrament, given by someone beloved, or carried in devotion to a particular saint. Here, many such histories have been gathered onto a single ring. We cannot know who assembled them, or why each particular medal mattered. The evidence of that life remains in the accumulation itself.
A beautiful early twentieth century French devotional object, preserved exactly as found.
Important Note
All sales are final, each piece is one-of-a-kind. Please note the shipping options at checkout.
Origin: France
Date: circa 1890–1940
Materials
Mixed devotional metals, including silver tone and bronze tone alloys, assembled on metal rings.
I would not claim sterling silver for any of these without seeing hallmarks.
French devotional medal cluster, circa 1890–1940
A remarkable collection of antique French devotional medals gathered together upon a single metal ring, likely accumulated across years of prayer, pilgrimage and private devotion.
Rather than a single manufactured object, this appears to be a deeply personal assemblage. Medals of different sizes, shapes, metals and periods have been added one by one, creating a small portable archive of faith.
Among them are images of the Virgin, the Sacred Heart and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, alongside medals commemorating particular shrines and devotions. One bears the tender French invocation:
Cœur de Jésus, j’ai confiance en vous.
Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Another calls simply:
Sainte Thérèse, priez pour nous.
Saint Thérèse, pray for us.
Several of the medals show considerable wear, their surfaces softened by touch and time. Others retain tiny architectural and figurative details: churches, saints, apparitions, hearts, flowers and scenes of prayer.
Together they form something more intimate than a collection of medals.
They form a record of devotion.
In Catholic tradition, medals such as these might be acquired at a sanctuary, received to mark a pilgrimage or sacrament, given by someone beloved, or carried in devotion to a particular saint. Here, many such histories have been gathered onto a single ring. We cannot know who assembled them, or why each particular medal mattered. The evidence of that life remains in the accumulation itself.
A beautiful early twentieth century French devotional object, preserved exactly as found.
Important Note
All sales are final, each piece is one-of-a-kind. Please note the shipping options at checkout.
