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Edouard Fraisse boxed bronze cycling medal

This French medal is by Edouard Fraisse. The obverse depicts two male cyclists cycling right to left on a road with fiedls in the background. It is signed "E Fraisse". The reverse depicts a rising sun with olive leaves in the background and a cartouche stamped "Offert par Le Petit Marseillais" with "1 Septembre 1935" engraved below the cartouche.The rim is stamped "Bronze" with a triangular shaped stamp with indistinct letters. It is presented in a small square mottled brown box. The lid is engraved "Offert par Le Petit Marseillais" in gold lettering. The inside of the box is pale yellow silk and velvet.

Approximate dimensions:
Weight of medal: 50gms - 1.8ozs
Diameter: 1.97ins - 5cms

Édouard Fraisse (1880 – 1945)
Édouard Fraisse studied under Barrias, Coutan, Chalpain and Vernon. He collaborated with Henry Demey on numerous medals and plaquettes that typically depicted figures in action. They were considered to be some of the best and most prestigious plaque and medal makers in France during the 1920s and 30s. He was made a chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1929.
Edouard Fraisse was an associate of the French Artists Society and exhibited at the Salon where he received a gold medal at the Salon of French Artists in 1937.

Le Petit Marseillais
Le Petit Marseillais was a newspaper founded in Marseille in 1868 by Toussaint Samat.
Known as the “one-sou newspaper” because of its price.
In 1939 Le Petit Marseillais had a circulation of 150,000 covering the south east of France, Corsica and North Africa. During WW11 its managing editor was Albert Lejeune who was guided by the German authorities and his newspapers supported collaboration. After France was liberated, Lejeune was tried and on 22 October 1944 sentenced to death. Le Petit Marseillais ceased publication in 1944.