Stack's Bowers & Ponterio
January 2014 NYINC Auction - Sess. C-D 13 January 2014
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FRANCE. To the Unknown Poets, (1905).
90(!)mm bronze, by Bottee. 33rd SAMF issue, the LARGEST round medal of the SAMF. Maier 33, Baxter 48. Obverse: Saddened goddess walking right. Reverse: Above (poet's) grave, misty figures float by, including (at top) Chronos, God of Time--now passed. Bottee's medals include so many great ones, it is bold to call this his masterpiece, but perhaps it is. The year after his 90mm SAMF issue, he produced another 90mm medal, this being France's medal to the earthquake-ravaged San Francisco. At the time, the two medals were probably the largest art medals ever struck in France. NEARLY SUPERB MINT STATE.
Bottee was paid a record 7,000 Francs by the SAMF. Putting this in perspective, it was about equal to a year's pay for a Ford auto worker in 1914, after Henry doubled salaries.
90(!)mm bronze, by Bottee. 33rd SAMF issue, the LARGEST round medal of the SAMF. Maier 33, Baxter 48. Obverse: Saddened goddess walking right. Reverse: Above (poet's) grave, misty figures float by, including (at top) Chronos, God of Time--now passed. Bottee's medals include so many great ones, it is bold to call this his masterpiece, but perhaps it is. The year after his 90mm SAMF issue, he produced another 90mm medal, this being France's medal to the earthquake-ravaged San Francisco. At the time, the two medals were probably the largest art medals ever struck in France. NEARLY SUPERB MINT STATE.
Bottee was paid a record 7,000 Francs by the SAMF. Putting this in perspective, it was about equal to a year's pay for a Ford auto worker in 1914, after Henry doubled salaries.