A Collection of European Art Medals

FRANCE, Union Franco-Américaine, 1886 [struck 1896], a bronze award medal by L.-O. Roty, winged Genius in Phrygian cap conducting a boat in which robed females representing France and America regard the Statue of Liberty, rev. bust of Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi in medallion, flanked by shields and laurel branch, tablet below, un-named, 68mm (Maier 92; Roty Compagnonnage p.94; CGMP p.358; ANS Exh. Cat. 1910, p.271, 80; Coll. R. Marx 13; BDM V, 230; cf. Baldwin 95, 2830). Good very fine £200-£260

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of European Art Medals.

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The Union Franco-Americaine was established to oversee the gift of the Statue of Liberty, which was sculpted by Bartholdi and engineered by Gustave Eiffel. The opening ceremony was held on 28 October 1886. Roty’s design first appeared in 1890 but it was not until 1896, and the 10th anniversary of the statue, that the Monnaie struck these medals