French coin/token with no value struck - pattern? [solved]

Hi All,

I've found the below in one of the cheap coin lot I bought recently:

At first I thought that value just got worn off, but now I think it was never struck. It was extremely hard to catch it on the picture, but under the bust there is small print saying “VOLTERRA”, “VOLTERRI”, or possibly “VOLTARRI”. Bold letters are I'm almost certain are correct, can't really be sure about the rest. Unfortunately I can't get to the scanner at the moment. The only other text is ‘republique francaise’. The closest one I could find on Numista is this one:

N#198345

However, mine is 23mm and 4g (kitchen scale, so +/- 0.5g). I tried to google Volterra, but results are:

- place in Italy

- coin box brand VOLTERRA (but I don't think it's their token)

- Daniele da Volterra - Italian painter

Nothing connected to France. I was thinking if it's possibly a pattern of some less known/unknown engraver. Has anyone heard about somone like this or have seen similar coin?

I might be wrong but looks just like a medal for me.

Something like:

N#26681

N#25059

N#167915

N#188700

 Yes, looks like a medal. 

Thanks for the answers guys! I don't think I will be able to narrow it down to the exact one, but it's good to know it's not a coin.

did you try VOLTAIRE, a French writer and philosopher, quite well known all over the world, If you speak French, you speak “The language of Voltaire”, like the British points to Shakespeare and the Germans to Goethe for their languages!

I actually found it today on… ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373792918415

In much better condition than mine.

 Yes, well done. So it had the loop removed at the top - like on yours also. 

‘France Republique Francaise medal by Volterra 23mm’