Description
FRANCE 1912 Railway Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée 59.3mm x 474.8mm gilt silver 56.18 grams presented by the head of the railway to an industrialist and a numismatist.
Obverse: three female allegories (representing the cities of Paris and Lyon, and the Mediterranean Sea) standing with winged Genius, PARIS LYON MÉDITERRANÉE / FERRO CONJVNGIT (Trans: Joined By Iron)
Reverse: A MR ENGEL-GROS EN SOUVENIR D'UNE VISITE A RIPAILLE AOÛT 1912
STEPHANE DERVILLE (Trans: TO MR ENGEL-GROS IN REMEMBRANCE OF A VISIT TO RIPAILLE AUGUST 1912 STEPHANE DERVILLE)
Edge: Cornucopia symbol privy mark (Paris Mint) 1ARGENT
This medal typically comes with a different reverse regarding the 1901 shareholders meeting. M. Stéphane Derville was the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Paris, Lyon, Méditerranée. Frédéric Engel-Gros came from a family of Mulhouse industrialists. He served in the Franco- Prussian war of 1870 and moved afterwards to his recently purchased castle Gundeldingen (just outside Basel) where he devoted himself to numismatics. He would later purchase the Château de Ripaille (near Thonon-les-Bains on Lake Geneva
The Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée ("Railway Company of Paris to Lyon and the Mediterranean"), also known as the Chemins de fer Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée or simply PLM, established in 1857, was one of France’s main railway companies until the nationalization of all French railways and establishment of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) on 1 January 1938.
Louis-Oscar Roty was born on 11 June 1846 in Paris. He first studied painting and sculpture, working under Lecoq de Boisbaudran, Augustin-Alexandre Dumont and Hubert Ponscarme, his mentor, was largely responsible for the renewal of medallic art at the end of the nineteenth century. Roty, along with Champlain, Alexandre Charpentier, and others, influenced by the Art Nouveau movement, advanced this resurgence of art in medal design. Roty, in particular, introduced the Renaissance form of the plaquette, which further emphasized the significance of the medal as a work of art. He designed hundreds of art medals celebrated for their graceful designs.
