can anyone age this religious medallion?

[coloradocav]

This medallion seems to be French though very worn from use it says "ST Francois De paola" I would like to know more about it. Thanks!

 

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[Steve0]

sorry cannot tell from the picture is there anything on the back.

 

[PBK]

Welcome to TreasureNet!

No guess on the age, but St. Francis of Paola is the patron saint of sailors, navigators, pilots, and those of other naval/maritime professions. Here is a replica of an 18th century medallion depicting him. (The original was recovered from a 1772 shipwreck.)



As you noted, the rendering of his name as "Francois" suggests that your medallion is French in origin, or at least was intended for French-speaking Catholics.

More info about him at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Paola

 

[coloradocav]

sorry cannot tell from the picture is there anything on the back.

No the back is worn completely smooth, whoever wore this medallion wore it for a long time.

 

[coloradocav]

sorry cannot tell from the picture is there anything on the back.

Nothing on the back it's worn down pretty smooth and thin, whoever wore this medallion must have used it for years.

 

[coloradocav]

Welcome to TreasureNet!

No guess on the age, but St. Francis of Paola is the patron saint of sailors, navigators, pilots, and those of other naval/maritime professions. Here is a replica of an 18th century medallion depicting him. (The original was recovered from a 1772 shipwreck.)




As you noted, the rendering of his name as "Francois" suggests that your medallion is French in origin, or at least was intended for French-speaking Catholics.

More info about him at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Paola

Thanks for the web site i'll check it out. I'll probably have to assume that from my research of the area it was found, quite a few french trappers used this area in the 1700- early 1800's. The trade era items were an accidental find, I was searching an 1858 U.S. mounted riflemen's camp that I had researched. Found out that the spaniards and french used this same camp much earlier. Thanks for the info. this is an awesome forum!