FRANCE, Napoleon III, 10 Centimes, date illegible, obv. engraved with the portrait of Georges Ernest Boulanger, neck pierced with sword, blood dripping down, boulanger 1888 around. Gilt and holed at 12 o’clock for suspension, the host fine with small edge bruise at 3 o’clock, the engraving better and of particularly fine workmanship £60-£80

Provenance: H. Brown Collection.

Georges Ernest Boulanger (1837-91), aggressive nationalist French general and politician, champion of the monarchist cause in France, fled the country under penalty of death, moving to England and then Brussels, where he committed suicide on the grave of his mistress, with whom he is buried