1 / 2
a close up of a silver coin with a man ' s face on ita close up of a silver coin with a wreath on it
Premium MDC Monnaies de Collection

1014 - FRANCE - FRANCE Second Empire / Napoleon III (1852–1870). Me…
See original version (French)

Estimate €500
Sale commission
Description
FRANCE - FRANCE Second Empire / Napoleon III (1852–1870). Medal awarded by the Imperial Zoological Society for Acclimatisation to Charles de Montigny, by Alphée Dubois, 1861, Paris. Maz.1906, 8; Aluminium – 20.36 g – 50 mm – 12 h Hallmark (hand-stamped) ‘ALUMINIUM’ on the edge. A small dent on the edge. Superb. Louis Charles Nicolas Maximilien de Montigny (1805–1868) was a French diplomat who served, notably, in Asia: he was the first French consul in Shanghai from 1848 to 1853, where he found few French merchants, but mainly Jesuits, who made up the bulk of the small community of around thirty French nationals. Bold, and spurred on by a French merchant from Canton, he negotiated with and secured from Daotai Lin Kouei a concession comparable to that of the British. From June 1856 to January 1857, he served as France’s envoy to King Mongkut of Siam, with the aim of re-establishing diplomatic relations with Siam, which had been severed since the time of Louis XIV; and, once again, a trade treaty was signed granting French warships access to Bangkok. Montigny visited the Empire of Annam in 1857 to demand the establishment of a consulate in Hué, the imperial capital of Annam, as well as freedom of trade and evangelisation and an end to the persecution of Catholics. However, the Court of Hué rejected all his demands. Following the failure of Montigny’s mission, Napoleon III decided to send a military force of 3,000 men to what is now Vietnam, leading to the capture of Tourane (now Da Nang) by Rigault de Genouilly on 1 September 1858, and the establishment of a protectorate over Cochinchina. Charles de Montigny served once more in Shanghai as Consul-General from June 1857 to June 1859, then as Chairman of the Municipal Council in 1862. From 1863 until his death in 1868, he was French Consul in Tientsin. The Imperial Zoological Society for Acclimatisation, founded in 1854 by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, aimed to introduce, acclimatise and domesticate species of animals that were either useful or ornamental, as well as to improve and breed newly introduced or domesticated breeds. Today, it is known as the National Society for the Protection of Nature. In 1861, the Zoological Society for Acclimatisation had a medal struck in honour of Charles de Montigny, the reverse of which depicted some of the species he had imported from the East: the yak, the Chinese yam, sugar sorghum, and the Manchurian oak for feeding silkworms. A gold copy of this medal was presented to him at a ceremony on 29 June 1861, attended notably by the ambassadors of Siam [Bulletin of the Zoological Society for Acclimatisation, 1861, pp. XXVII and 296] Aluminium, discovered in 1807, is derived from bauxite ore. In 1827, this metal was isolated by Friedrich Wöhler, who demonstrated its chemical and physical properties, the most notable of which is its lightness. In 1846, the French chemist Henri Sainte-Claire Deville improved upon Wöhler’s method by reducing the ore with sodium. In 1854, he presented to the Academy of Sciences the first aluminium ingot obtained, in molten form, by chemical means. The world’s first industrial aluminium production plant was established in Salindres in the Gard region and began operations in 1860. For some thirty years, aluminium remained expensive to produce and was therefore scarce. At that time, France was virtually the only country producing it (it was not until 1890 that the electrolytic process, still in use today, was developed). Production remained extremely costly, resulting in a metal whose price was comparable to that of gold (1,200 to 1,500 francs per kilogramme of gold, whilst silver cost only 210 francs per kilogramme). Chemical aluminium was therefore reserved for the production of luxury jewellery or silverware intended for an elite few, notably at the imperial court of Napoleon III. The latter was presented with a putti-decorated overcoat by Christofle in 1858. Empress Eugénie’s ewer, made of Sèvres porcelain with a gilded aluminium mount in 1859, was at that time the most expensive item produced by the manufactory: 6,975 francs [La Gazette Drouot, No. 1622, pp. 24–25]. It is also worth noting, as an anecdote, that Napoleon III would entertain his distinguished guests with aluminium cutlery, whilst the other diners had to make do with vermeil cutlery!
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale A selection of coins and medals from the collection of an amateur collector from Burgundy (Part 2)
Auction location
Auction time 09/05/2026 at 9:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like