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Item Description

Llimited Quantiy:  Only one will be available in our 2020 Annual Auction!

We are pleased to offer one of our Chartres Pilgrimage Badges in this year's auction.  These standard pewter badges feature double-sided detail.  Please see the pictures to view the tiny details! For a size comparison, we've included a picture of the badge next to a penny (penny not included).

Own your very own piece of history!

This unique treasure is areplica, in demension and design, of a 13th century pilgrimage badge. In medieval times, pilgrims sewed the medal onto their hat or clothing or wore it around their neck on a leather chain. This fine example of medieval craftmanship was intended for the numerous pilgrims who flocked to Chartres to seek Mary's intercession, many of them on their way to Compostella via Chartres.

Our winner will receive their very own pilgrim badge, complete with a historic fact sheet and safeguarded in a Veriditas 25th anniversary box. This is a truly one of a kind gift for yourself or a loved one.

Item Special Note

Detail about the badge itself:a replica of a 13th Century Medal of Our Lady of Chartres.

Mary, on the one side is crowned with a halo.  She holds the infant Jesus, with a cruciform nimbus, on herleft arm.  He blesses with His right hand, and holds a globe in His left.  Mary is seated on a throne between two pillars, and is being carried from left to right by two clerics.  Two tiny figures are kneeling at her feet.

On the reverse side two bare-headed and tonsured clerics are carrying a reliquary containing the Sancta Camisia, the sacred tunic* that was believed to have been worn by Mary when she gave birth to Jesus, and given to Chartres Cathedral by King Charles the Bald in 876.

Beneath the reliquary is the representation of a medival Chartres coin, known as a "besan" and which is still part of the ciry's healdry.

This medal is a copy of one found in 1862, at the Pont Notre-Dame, when the Seine River was being dredged and is an exact copy in both design and dimensions.

In medieval times pilgrims sewed the medal onto their hat or clothing or wore it around their neck on a leather chain.  It is a fine example of medival crafrtmanship and was inteded for the numerous pilgrims who flocked to Chartres to seek Mary's intercession; many of them on their way to Compostella via Chartres.

*When the reliquary was opened in the 18th century, the garment was found not to be a tunic, but folded linen.*

This item will be shipped from the Veriditas home office.  Shipping and handling fees for the winning bidder will be calculated and charged to the winning bidder once the auction bidding closes.