File:Anti Papal Medallion, Downham, Ribble Valley, Lancs. (FindID 87884).jpg

English: Double-headed lead medallion, depicting two faces - one on either side. This item has been discussed in the Searcher (May 1986). One of the readers, Anthony Runge, writes:

"... it dates from 1678, the year of the Popish plot. In that year, Sir Edmund Berry (Edmondbury) Gofrey, a magistrate, was strangle with his own cravat at the watergate of Somerset House. His body was hidden for a few days, then taken to Primrose Hill, at that time still in the countryside, and dumped in a ditch transfixed with his own sword. This sordid little episode, for which a number ofpeople were later hanged, was commemorated in a series of medallions struck by the contemporary medallist George Bower." 
Held correctly, the reverse of one of the sides shows the Pope's head. When held upside down it shows the head of the devil. Some of the medallions (this doesn't) have an incription which reads: "ECCLESIA PERVERSA TENET FACIEM DIABOLI - The church perverted has the face of the devil."
"...The obverse of the medal is the head of a Cardinal, with his distinctive flat hat, linked with the head of a fool." The wording around the face (which our medal doesn't have) should read: "SAPIENTES ALIQUANDO STULTI - Wise men (are) sometimes stupid".

"... I have since found out that George Bower was not the originator of the Pope/Devil faces but had copied his design from earlier medals. These were produces at the time of the Reformation witht eh objects of embarrassing the Church of Rome. Sadly, medals like... (these)... were produced in large numbers over a period of some 300 years (mainly in Germany). Because of this and because the quality of the work is usually 'a bit rough', the medals hold little interest for collectors and are therefore of little value."