Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

France, Republic, Gironde Lifesaving Society Medal, silver with crown suspension, the reverse engraved ‘Décernée au Poste de Leytham 1886’ good very fine

France, Republic, Municipal Order of the Seine Department, breast Star, silver-gilt and enamel, with broad pin suspension, minor enamel damage, very fine (2) £70-90

The Gironde Lifesaving Society was established in 1855, the same year that the wines that are produced on the Gironde estuary’s left bank were first classified.

The Seine Department (no. 75), which comprised most of greater Paris, existed from 1790 until its abolishment in 1968, when it was split into four new Departments comprising central Paris and three new suburban Departments.