Description
France, Silver Octagonal Jeton, “HEUR ET MALHEUR”, 12.90grms, Obv. Janiform allegorical bust with two conjoined heads facing opposite directions, one serene and the other severe, representing the dual concepts of Fortune and Misfortune, encircled by the legend HEUR ET MALHEUR, signed by GAYRARD.F., Rev. Winged and blindfolded Fortune moving left, distributing riches from a cornucopia, her wheel at her feet, leading by the hand a blindfolded Cupid holding his bow as a blind man’s cane; signed GAYRARD.F.; in the exergue the signature DE PUYMAURIN D; beneath each figure appears a small animal resembling a mole, likely an allegorical reference reinforcing the theme of blindness and the unpredictability of fate. An intellectually rich and symbolically layered French jeton de vœux, associated with the traditions of love and marriage, drawing on the long-standing custom of the treizain, a blessed wedding offering symbolising the union of property and destiny between spouses; such tokens evolved into medallic forms during the 19th century and were commonly exchanged in matrimonial contexts, with this example combining moral allegory, refined engraving, and Paris Mint authority, as documented in the classic studies of Jules Florange and later Henri Térisse, making it a highly evocative and culturally significant piece within French matrimonial numismatics
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