Description
FRANCE Frederic Desmons 69.59mm x 55.26mm bronze medal 126 grams
Obverse: bust facing left, FREDERIC DESMONS / ÆTATIS / SVÆ LXXVI / G. PRUD'HOMME 09 (Trans: Age 76)
Reverse: combined symbols of Fasces and Hand of Justice with a bouquet of roses, AU / SENATEUR / F. DESMONS / SES AMIS / MDCCCCIX / G. PRUD'HOMME
Edge: Cornucopia privy mark (Paris Mint) BRONZE
Frédéric Desmons (1832 – 1910) was a French Calvinist priest and freemason who persuaded the Grand Orient de France in a vote to remove the term of the Great Architect of the Universe from their Constitution. This precipitated a split with the United Grand Lodge of England and the birth of liberal or Latin Freemasonry. He was several times grand master of the Grand Orient of France, a French politician, general councilor in 1877 and deputy senator of Gard in 1894.
Georges Henri Prud'homme (1873 - 1947) Sculptor and medallist, born in Capbreton, Landes. Studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he studied sculpture under Falguière and engraving under Alphée Dubois. Exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1894. Received an honourable mention in 1901, a third-class medal in 1904 and a second-class medal in 1911. Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, 1923.
