France, Jeanne Bourgeois ('Mistinguett'), singer and acress, laudatory medal struck 1967, AE, by M Delannoy

Obv: facing bust of Jeanne Bourgeois, song titles around

Rev: the entertainer seated cross-legged in an extravagant feather-tailed gown

Diameter: 63mm; Condition: About as issued

References: CGMP 4/600; BM Acq. 1983-87, p.34, 119

Notes: Jeanne Bourgeois (1875-1956), known as Mistinguett. She made her debut at the Casino de Paris in 1895, and appeared also in shows such as the Folies Bergere and Moulin Rouge. Her risqué routines captivated Paris and she went on to become the most popular French entertainer of her time and the highest paid female entertainer in the world. In 1919, her legs were insured for the then astounding amount of 500,000 francs. She had a long relationship with the much younger Maurice Chevalier, but it was her other torrid love affairs with an Indian Prince, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, as well as the future King Edward VII of England, that became legendary.

Price £25