It is the meeting between a French fine jewelry house and the ancestral know-how of a monetary institution. The Hôtel de la Monnaie, Quai de Conti (6th arrondissement), houses many treasures. This Tuesday, June 25, the Paris Mint opened the doors of its workshops to us, where German machinery strikes coins and medals daily. And in particular an Olympic collection: the medals from the Paris 2024 Games.
Designed by the Chaumet house (LVMH group, also owner of Le Parisien – Today in France), the 5,084 Olympic and Paralympic medals, the object of all the athletes’ desires, still shine in secret. Well out of sight, for a few more weeks. Only a few visitors to the site were able to see its silhouette in the distance. We were able to closely observe the meticulous and unique manufacturing process adopted by the artisans of the Mint, already at work for the Rugby World Cup medals.
“40 different operations”
Unprecedented, because a single charm requires fifteen days of work and “a succession of 40 different operations to give it this shine”, underlines Éric Matte, production manager of the Parisian workshops. It must be said that once the finishing strike is carried out at a pressure of 400 tonnes, during which a hexagonal piece of the Eiffel Tower is inserted into the medal, the brilliance is remarkable.
A single medal requires fifteen days of work. Philippe Servent
“They are made as you do for a piece of jewelry. We give it a shine, we set the stones,” says Benoît Verhulle, workshop manager at Chaumet. A jewel measuring 85 mm in diameter and barely heavier than 500 g. “The back of the Olympic medal has been frozen by the IOC since 2004. We can only intervene on the front. On the Paralympic medal, we did the design on both sides,” adds Benoît Verhulle. Braille has also been added to the sides of the second.
The Eiffel Tower on the medal and ribbon
Before displaying all these details, the medals underwent three roughings, passages in an oven at high heat, and chemical baths. So many steps are carried out by “metal surgeons” using silver boards – some made of gold – and monetary bronze. These are then cut out, before taking the rounded shape of the medals. The very first were struck last December.
Once completed, the medal will be 85mm in diameter and will be just over 500g. Philippe Servent
This whole process ends with the insertion of the piece of the Eiffel Tower, from a period corner piece, we are told in the workshops. Small elements of the Iron Lady dating from its construction, or removed during maintenance operations on the building. A simple finishing stroke allows you to add the insert, also worked on site. The gold medal (around 6 g of gold) passes through an electrolysis bath which deposits gold on the surface to give it this color. Before the wrapping phase, carried out on the upper floor of the Monnaie de Paris.
A phase in which Capucine Guisnet, quality expert, intervenes. “The ribbon (made by Neyret) is inserted into the throat of the medal using a machine,” she explains. We use an electric pin and a plastic dowel. » The operation only lasts a few seconds, and the ribbon, with lace in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, can no longer be removed.
The Paris Mint produced the medals for the 1896 Olympic Games
Furthermore, each medal bears a chip, “a form of electronic certification”, according to the Monnaie de Paris. A device that allows it to be authenticated. The competition at the end of which it will be awarded is already indicated on the edge. This Tuesday, the gold medal which will be distributed to the champions of women’s wheelchair basketball is presented to us.
Each medal bears a chip, “a form of electronic certification”. Philippe Servent
“The first modern Olympic Games medal dates from 1896 when Pierre de Coubertin reinvented this event,” recalls Marc Schwartz, general director of the establishment which manufactures between 70,000 and 80,000 medals per year (not counting decorations). “They took place in Athens (Greece). At the time, the Greek Mint did not know how to make medals. They asked us. La Monnaie de Paris then repeated this work at the Paris Games of 1900 and 1924, for the Chamonix Winter Games in 1924, those of Grenoble in 1968 and the Albertville Winter Games in 1992, the Paralympic part. »
