A Group of Eight French Officer’s Gorgets. France, late 18th century–mid‑19th century.

Gilt and silvered brass (variously patinated), most with cast applied copper‑alloy or white‑metal badges; each of crescent form, pierced at the tips for suspension; one retaining traces of original cord. Each of typical officer’s size, approx. 12–15 cm (4¾–6 in.) across.

The gorget, descended from a medieval neck‑defence, survived in France as an officer’s badge of authority well into the nineteenth century, and, in the civic sphere, as the emblem of the Garde nationale, the citizen militia charged with maintaining public order. The shifting iconography represented with the grouping offered for sale charts the country’s political transformations: the Bourbon royal crown above the naval anchor (Restoration), the Napoleonic aigle on thunderbolt (First Empire), and, under the July Monarchy and the early Republic, the coq gaulois with the explicitly civic motto LIBERTÉ – ORDRE PUBLIC. The unusual trophy of crossed muskets and pistols with hunting horn is characteristic of municipal guards and gendarmerie‑type services in the mid‑century. Together the eight gorgets form a compact visual history of French state and civic authority from the Revolutionary era through the Restoration and the Imperial and Republican regimes.

Comprising (from top to bottom, left to right in the cover photo of this lot):

1. Marine Royale / Naval administration gorget, Restoration period, c.1814–1830, applied crowned anchor.

2. Garde nationale officer’s gorget, July Monarchy, c.1830–1848, silvered badge of the coq gaulois above oak and laurel with twin banners inscribed LIBERTÉ and ORDRE PUBLIC.

3. Garde nationale officer’s gorget, c.1830–1848, silver‑plated throughout with struck badge of cock on a trophy of flags and arms, the banners again reading LIBERTÉ and ORDRE PUBLIC.

4. Imperial (First Empire) officer’s gorget, c.1804–1815, applied Napoleonic eagle perched on a thunderbolt.

5. Trophy‑of‑arms gorget, mid‑19th century, blackened badge of crossed muskets with fixed triangular bayonets above crossed pistols and a hunting horn—an emblem associated with municipal/paramilitary guard formations.

6. Garde nationale / civic guard gorget, c.1830–1848 (and used into 1870–71), blackened cock within a laurel wreath.

7. Imperial (First Empire) officer’s gorget, c.1804–1815, applied eagle on thunderbolt (this example with two later securing rivets flanking the device).

8. Garde nationale officer’s gorget, c.1830–1848, cock above a large trophy of flags and weapons, the banners reading LIBERTÉ and ORDRE PUBLIC.