Old cross??? Please help me identify the YEAR

[Coin Keeper]

Looks like a copper backing but
The front looks like gold??

 

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[Mackaydon]

Welcome to treasurenet !
Your cross is referred to as a 'four-way' pendant or medal.
They are not dated and there are hundreds of varieties.
The pendant is sometime made with 10k gold; hopefully like yours.
Don...

 

[xr7ator]

I found a little round one a few years ago that is marked on back 14k G P and then I can't remember what else it said but the what else referred to the gold plating being heavier in some places (the front) more than other places (the back). The front looks great but the back has greenish tint from copper (or brass, whatever the base metal is) showing through.

 

[ARC]

I have found countless religious medallions... never one in gold... sterling yes.

Not saying they don't make them... just never see them... in fact 99% of em are made from weird metals.

Yours is obviously plated.

 

[Swaveab]

Coin Keeper I blew up the front image and I believe I see a date on it and it looks like 1830. It's a bit muddled, but you should look closer at the front bottom to see if you can make it out for sure.

 

[ripvanb]

Looks gold plated to me but I don't think you'll ever know the year.

 

[Red-Coat]

Note that your medallion does have a date of ‘1830’ at the bottom following the “Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee” inscription but that’s not the date the medallion was made. It’s an acknowledgement of the Marian apparitions experienced by the French nun Catherine Labouré (later canonized as Saint Catherine Labouré) on 18 July and 27 November of 1830 in Paris.

These events soon spawned a number of Catholic devotional medallions generally known as “Miraculous Medals”, for which an ‘official’ design was approved in 1836. It’s also copyrighted, so those producing such medals for sale at places other than the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous in Paris have often used their own designs for that reason. They’re still made today, so the only clue to the date for yours is what looks a combination of copper overlaid with gold foil which is not a typically modern construction.

 

[Swaveab]

Note that your medallion does have a date of ‘1830’ at the bottom following the “Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee” inscription but that’s not the date the medallion was made. It’s an acknowledgement of the Marian apparitions experienced by the French nun Catherine Labouré (later canonized as Saint Catherine Labouré) on 18 July and 27 November of 1830 in Paris.

These events soon spawned a number of Catholic devotional medallions generally known as “Miraculous Medals”, for which an ‘official’ design was approved in 1836. It’s also copyrighted, so those producing such medals for sale at places other than the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous in Paris have often used their own designs for that reason. They’re still made today, so the only clue to the date for yours is what looks a combination of copper overlaid with gold foil which is not a typically modern construction.

I stand corrected as I was unaware of the date requirement on that medallion. I do agree with Red Coat that the method used is a rough clue to the age, but an exact date may not be possible.

 

[Gene Mean]

Nice medal. The one I found was aluminum I think. Very lightweight and corroded. Yours looks much more substantial. Any history(years) of the site you found it?

 

[Red-Coat]

I stand corrected as I was unaware of the date requirement on that medallion.

Just to clarify. This is the 'official' Miraculous Medal, for which the design was approved in 1836. Note that it has the 1830 date at the bottom and the "Mary, conceived without sin..." inscription is in French. Other medals not using that copyrighted design commemorating Catherine's apparitions usually also carry that date but not as a 'requirement' and there are dozens of variants that are loosely defined as 'Miraculous Medals'... both with and without suspension loops and in all kinds of shapes including crosses.



Since it's not to the official design it won't have been sold from the Paris shrine and in any case the inscription is in English. Catholic establishments everywhere sell them for fund-raising purposes.

 

[xr7ator]

I've found many of these in sterling, aluminum and gold plated. I remember the first one I found with that 1830 date. It was back in 1985. Still a pretty cool find and sooner or later you'll get one made form PM.

 

[Coin Keeper]

That's not good news! I thought it was old ��

 

[invent4hir]

Here is one on Amazon with some of the same features -> https://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Gold-Four-Way-Cross-Medal/dp/B07DCLLSTW

 

[Keith Jackson]

At an auction, I picked up a box with over 200 various Catholic medallions hoping to find some sterling or gold. Nope. All sorts of metals, but nothing precious.