Coins, Paper Money, Tokens and Historical Medals

FRANCE, Aero-Club de France, 1903, a silver award medal by E.-A. Marcus, winged figure points to dirigible, another figure seated contemplates the dawn of flying, rev. winged figure right, named (Aérostation Plus Grande Durée 1912, Maurice Bienaimé), 54mm (PBE 580; BDM III, 567; cf. Baudey/Bricher 1992, 117; cf. DNW 48, 945). Extremely fine £100-150

Maurice Bienaimé was one of the best known balloonists and early aviators in France. This medal is the prize for the Gordon Bennett Race for balloons held in October 1912 in Stuttgart. M. Bienaimé, in the winning balloon named La Picardie, covered a distance of 2,191 kilometres in a time of 45 hours 42 minutes. The time was not bettered in this event until 1925 while the distance stood as a record until 2005