Royal Irish Constabulary medallion?
 

I cannot find anything out about the motto on this medallion which appears to read, 001 RE FE IS. It may be Gaelic. However I do recognise the Victorian crown and the Irish harp which represent the Royal Irish Constabulary or possibly the Royal Irish Rifles. Any thoughts as to which of these two the medallion was intended for would be welcome.

Please not that this item may be offered for sale if I decide not to keep it for my collection.

I think you have a Gaelic inscription "Doire Feis" or Derry Feis. A feis is a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival.

The Derry (or Londonderry) Feis is quite famous, the first took place in the Guildhall in April 1900, its competitions were open to entrants from all over Ireland.

I think this is a medal from competitions for this festival, possibly even the first or second one (1900/1901) given the crown.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/northe...y-feis-470088/

A quick internet search (cached images) show the medal descried as such.

John

John,

that is brilliant, thank you. I was googling the inscription as I read it and not as two distinct words. The 0-01 clearly threw me, if only they had thought to use the 19.

Simon.

Simon, you are very welcome the "001 RE' is actually "DOI RE" [DOIRE] in the Gaelic font used on the medal.

John

Thanks again John, I can see a serif on the initial 0 now that I have looked carefully.

The Harp & Crown was the Kings/Queens Irish 'Coat of Arms' not just used by the Police & Military.

Here is an example of a King George IV Irish penny where the Saint Edwards Crown over Harp replaces Britannia on the rear face.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...f42a39582b.jpg

Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland.