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France
Honor Medal of Railroads (Type 2)
1942 Silver Medal 31mm (Without ribbon) 18.82 grams (With ribbon)
P.LAUGIER 1942 B R, Mechanical Train lever.
MEDAILLE DES CHEMINOTS RF N S(H.EAVRE.BERLIN), Train wheel, logo within.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
The Honour medal of railroads (French: “médaille d’honneur des chemins de fer”) is a state decoration bestowed by the French Republic in the form of an honour medal for work. It was originally meant to reward, depending on the quality and length of time calculated in calendar years, the services rendered by French agents and labourers and to nationals of the French Union or protectorates, in service with the railroads. The Honour medal of railroads was created by decree on 19 August 1913 as a reward for thirty years of service. Since then, many modifications were instituted by consecutive decrees amending the original text.
Type 1 award (1913-1939)
A 32mm in diameter circular silver or silver gilt (from 1919) medal. The design was from Oscar Roty, a famous period engraver of coinage and stamps. The medal hung from a ribbon passing through a suspension ring itself passing through a barrel shaped suspension affixed to the top of the medal. The silk moiré ribbon was 37mm wide with seven equal vertical stripes of blue-white-red-white-blue-white-red. The original 1913 ribbon bore the golden-yellow silk sewn-in image of a steam locomotive, replaced in 1919 by a metallic clasp in the form of a steam locomotive, silver or gilt depending on the grade of the award.
- On the obverse: the effigy of the republic wearing a Phrygian cap crowned with laurels.
- Inscription: REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE (in English : FRENCH REPUBLIC).
- On the reverse: a rectangular cartouche destined to bear the name of the recipient over an unfurled scroll. It sits atop the bottom of a crown of laurels and oak leaves with a ribbon bearing the inscriptions HONNEUR (in English: HONOUR) and TRAVAIL (in English: WORK). The crown surrounds the image of the front of a steam locomotive and a semaphore.
- Inscription: MINISTERE DES TRAVAUX PUBLICS – CHEMINS DE FER (in English: MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS – RAILROADS).
Type 2 award (1939-1953)
A 32mm in diameter circular silver or silver gilt medal. The design was from Charles-Maurice Favre-Bertin. The medal hung from a ribbon passing through a suspension ring itself passing through a barrel shaped suspension affixed to the top of the medal. The silk moiré ribbon was 36mm wide with seven equal vertical stripes of blue-white-red-white-blue-white-red.
- On the obverse: the image of a steam locomotive main wheel.
- Inscription: MEDAILLE – DES – CHEMINOTS and the initials R – F (in English: RAILWAYMEN’S – MEDAL). The RF initials represented RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE (in English: FRENCH REPUBLIC).
- On the reverse: The image of a hand operating a railway crossing lever over a blank area for the recipient’s name.
Type 3 award (1953-1977)
A 32mm in diameter bronze, silver gilt or gold circular medal. The design was from Georges Guiraud. The medal hung from a ribbon passing through a suspension ring itself passing through a barrel shaped suspension affixed the top of the medal. The silk moiré ribbon was 36mm wide with seven equal vertical stripes of blue-white-red-white-blue-white-red.
- On the obverse: the effigy of the republic wearing a Phrygian cap in front of rails and framed by two laurel branches.
- Inscription: REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE (in English FRENCH REPUBLIC).
- On the reverse: the image of an electric locomotive and a steam locomotive on a higher rail, framed on the left by an olive branch and surmounting a blank area destined for the recipient’s name.
- Inscription: MEDAILLE D’HONNEUR DES CHEMINS DE FER (in English: HONOUR MEDAL FOR RAILROADS).
Type 4 award (1977 to present)
The silver and silver gilt medals are 32mm in diameter, the gold level award is 36mm in diameter. The design was again from Georges Guiraud. The medal hangs from a ribbon passing through a T shaped suspension loop cast atop of the medal itself. The silk moiré ribbon, 36mm wide for the bronze and silver gilt grades and 38mm wide for the gold grade, has seven equal vertical stripes of blue-white-red-white-blue-white-red. A golden palm adorns the ribbon of the gold level award.
- On the obverse: all three grades of the award although different in size, bear the same design. The effigy of the republic wearing a Phrygian cap in front of rails and framed by two laurel branches.
- Inscription: REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE (in English FRENCH REPUBLIC).
- On the reverse: the image of a French TGV and a steam locomotive on a higher rail, framed on the left by an olive branch and surmounting a blank area destined for the recipient’s name.
- Inscription: MEDAILLE D’HONNEUR DES CHEMINS DE FER (in English: HONOUR MEDAL FOR RAILROADS).
  France, officially the French Republic (French: République française), is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European part of France, called Metropolitan France, extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. France spans 640,679 square kilometres (247,368 sq mi) and has a total population of 67 million. It is a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris, the country’s largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. The Constitution of France establishes the state as secular and democratic, with its sovereignty derived from the people.
During the Iron Age, what is now Metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The Gauls were conquered in 51 BC by the Roman Empire, which held Gaul until 486. The Gallo-Romans faced raids and migration from the Germanic Franks, who dominated the region for hundreds of years, eventually creating the medieval Kingdom of France. France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453) strengthening French state-building and paving the way for a future centralized absolute monarchy. During the Renaissance, France experienced a vast cultural development and established the beginning of a global colonial empire. The 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots).
France became Europe’s dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV. French philosophers played a key role in the Age of Enlightenment during the 18th century. In 1778, France became the first and the main ally of the new United States in the American Revolutionary War. In the late 18th century, the absolute monarchy was overthrown in the French Revolution. Among its legacies was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the earliest documents on human rights, which expresses the nation’s ideals to this day. France became one of modern history’s earliest republics until Napoleon took power and launched the First French Empire in 1804. Fighting against a complex set of coalitions during the Napoleonic Wars, he dominated European affairs for over a decade and had a long-lasting impact on Western culture. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments: the monarchy was restored, it was replaced in 1830 by a constitutional monarchy, then briefly by a Second Republic, and then by a Second Empire, until a more lasting French Third Republic was established in 1870. By the 1905 law, France adopted a strict form of secularism, called laïcité, which has become an important federative principle in the modern French society.
France reached its territorial height during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it ultimately possessed the second-largest colonial empire in the world. In World War I, France was one of the main winners as part of the Triple Entente alliance fighting against the Central Powers. France was also one of the Allied Powers in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis Powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War. The Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Following World War II, most of the empire became decolonized.
Throughout its long history, France has been a leading global center of culture, making significant contributions to art, science, and philosophy. It hosts Europe’s third-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites (after Italy and Spain) and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, the most of any country in the world. France remains a great power with significant cultural, economic, military, and political influence. It is a developed country with the world’s sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and eight-largest by purchasing power parity. According to Credit Suisse, France is the fourth wealthiest nation in the world in terms of aggregate household wealth. It also possesses the world’s second-largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ), covering 11,035,000 square kilometres (4,261,000 sq mi).
French citizens enjoy a high standard of living, and the country performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, civil liberties, and human development. France is a founding member of the United Nations, where it serves as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. It is a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and La Francophonie. France is a founding and leading member state of the European Union (EU).
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