1804, France/Great Britain. ABANDONED INVASION OF ENGLAND. By Droz. AE 41mm. Obv: Laureate head of Napoleon facing right. Rev: Hercules subduing a sea monster. D?Essling 1044, Bramsen 365, apparently not in the Schwering collection. Some wear and multiple small nicks. $225. Sorry, SOLD (May, 2022)———— This medal was struck Sir Edward Thomason’s Manufactory, in Birmingham. He describes the circumstances of his coming to strike it in his autobiography. He notes that a die was prepared in France in anticipation of an invasion of England. The inscription in its exergue proclaims FRAPEE A LONDRES (Struck in London). Thomason notes that the intention was to strike them at the Mint in Paris, but to issue them as if they had been struck in London. Six samples were struck. The die and the medals were hidden by Denon, Director of the Mint. They were discovered after Denon’s death. One was given to the Duke of Wellington, “who considered it an excellent opportunity to exhibit the presumption of Bonaparte. Hence the letter of Sir Neil Campbell to me.” This resulted in Thomason creating a new die. He records “I succeeded in making an exact copy of the original, so much so, that it was difficult to discern the bronze medal from my dies from the original French medal.”