1783 Medal Frères Montgolfier Champ de Mars Bronzed AE SP(PCGS#970477)

1783 Medal Frères Montgolfier Champ de Mars Bronzed AE SP (PCGS#970477)

February 2025 Collectors Choice Online Auction - World Coins

详细说明: Joos-a.1; Malpas-1. By Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux. Diameter: 42mm. Obverse: Conjoined busts of the Montgolfier brothers facing left, perimeter legend JOSE . ET ETIEN . MONTGOLFIER above; legend POUR AVOIR RENDU L'AIR NAVIGABLE below; signature N. GATTEAUX on truncation of bust; Reverse: Paris, seated, leaning against lion, looking upward at a balloon aloft among clouds, a pair of keys laying at her feet; Genius in the clouds holding torch below the balloon to heat its air; recumbent lion on ground below; perimeter legend ATTONITUS ORBIS TERRARUM above, three-line legend ITINERE PER AERA FELICITER / TENTATO ANNO / MDCCLXXXIII; signature GATTEAUX in landscape at right. Joseph-Michel and Étienne Montgolfier began experimenting with balloon flight in 1782; on 19 September 1783 they were demonstrating a balloon flight at Versailles in front of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and a sizable crowd with the first creatures to be taken aloft - a duck, sheep, and rooster. The flight lasted about eight minutes, the balloon traversed approximately two miles, and landed safely - with all creatures quite alive. The first human-piloted flight would take place two months later on the outskirts of Paris.<p>This medal offers deep, rich, glossy color albeit with scattered marks per the grade. Of the various pairings of related balloon flight dies, this pairing is not seen very often. Attractive.