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Dating French medals by edge-markings

When the Paris Mint was restructured in 1832 a new policy was instituted, the application of edge-marks on medals struck in precious metals from dies which the mint owned. This practice was perhaps adopted to insure purchasers of the medals that specimens were really made of precious metal.
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The edge of the metal was imprinted with the image of an ancient lamp. This poinçon was used from 30 March 1832 to 1841.
 
In 1841 it was decided that the punch would be changed to the personal emblem of the mint director and that all medals would be edge-marked, including those made of base medals. The name of the metal was now added. 
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From 21 October 1841 to 1842 the punch was an anchor interlaced with a C.
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From 25 September 1842 to 1845, the prow of a ship was used.
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From 12 June 1845 to 1860, a pointing hand was used.
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From 1 October 1860 to 1880. a bee was used.
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In 1879 it was decided to eliminate changing the symbol with each change of the mint director, and from 1 January 1880 on a cornucopia has been used. At some time after 1950 it was decided to add the year in which the medal was struck, giving then the cornucopia, the name of the metal, and the year in arabic numerals.
Poincons of the Paris Mint
The punches were made in several sizes, some smaller ones having letters 0.75 millimeters high. In many cases the marks were poorly struck, but usually the outlines are sufficiently distinct that the time of striking can be determined. These edge marks do not indicate that a given medal was struck from copied dies rather than original ones; all they tell is the approximate date of the striking and that the mint owned the dies. The mint also stored dies belonging to individuals and struck medals from them for them. These were not edgemarked. Whether a given plain-edge medal from the Paris Mint was struck during Napoleonic times must be judged by the patina, the quality of the strike, and details of the individual medals. In the case of base-metal medals, consideration must be given to the fact that those produced between 1832 and 1841 were not edgemarked. The mint catalog of 1833 indicates several Napoleonic medals of which they held the dies for entrepreneurs such as Brasseux.
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