Codman Casts of Medallions of Napoleon’s Armies, 1800’s. These are casts of medallions of Napoleon’s Armies in a three-box set made to look like books, along with an Index to the Napoleon Casts; there are 84 casts altogether, and they make a handsome set for anyone interested in Napoleonia. The casts cover 1796 to 1813, with exact replicas of medallions that represent various battles and campaigns from the time period, and they come with a separate index that identifies all the casts and tells you what battle or campaign they represent and tells the date for that cast as well. (The casts are numbered on the round yellow band that surrounds each cast, and the numbers correspond to the numbers on the inside covers of each box, as well as to the numbers in the Index). The first box contains 30 medallions from 1796 to 1804 and include the Battle of Montenotte, a cast of Virgil, the Battle of Millesimo, Passage of the Tagliamento, the Conquest of Egypt, the Conquest of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, a large medallion of Napoleon as general-in-chief of the French army in Italy, the French army crossing Mt. St. Demars, the Battle of Marengo in June, the Treaty of Amiens broken - the English declare war on 18 May - the capitulation of Mantua, Hanover occupied by the French army and others. The second box contains 26 medallions from 1806 to 1807, and include the Column of the Grand army, the campaign of Venice restored to Italy, Thanksgiving for peace at Vienna, Peace of Tilsit to honor Napoleon, Alexandre 1st, Fred. William 3, The King & Queen of Bavaria, the Battle of Jena, Napoleon & Charlemagne, Vitikind & Frederic Augustus, the Triumphal arch, Confederation of the Rhine, Temple of Augustus, Conquest of Istria and more, and the third box contains 28 medallions from 1807 to 1813, including the Napoleon Museum, the Gate of Alcala, The French enter Madrid, Public schools instituted in the [ ] year of Bonaparte, the Battles of Abensberg & Eckmuhl, Battle of Wagram, Napoleon in his Imperial Robes, the Eagle Returned - a medal to incorporate Rome with the French Empire - Antwerp Attacked by the English, the Emperor leaves Paris, the Emperor enters Vienna, the Napoleon Museum, and others. Two casts are loose, but included in the boxes. The other casts have been glued down to paper in each box, so it is impossible to see the back sides of each cast, but the hand-written index lists and describes each cast in great detail and the significance of most of the casts. The title page of the index reads “Index to the Napoleon casts made by J Codman from medals belonging to Mr. Ths. Thorndike 1830”; there are 28 pages filled with hand-written notes and 58 blank pages in the index, and the index is vital to understanding the history and significance of each cast; there are modern restrikes of the original medals, but not here; these casts were made before 1830, and Thorndike entered the navy in 1810 and died in 1845, from what we can tell. The casts come in different sizes, as you can see from the photographs, and the boxes are 9 1/2 x 6 1/4 in, wide and about 1 3/4 in. deep and have rubbing and wear on the outside, but that doesn’t affect the casts inside, and the index is 8 x 5 1/8 in. wide. The covers are detached on the first box and they all have black duct tape on the spines, including the index, and all the casts are here. A different kind of history about Napoleon, and one that leaves a lot of investigating to be done for an avid collector of Napoleonia. #185