Description
FRANCE Napoleon III 1855 Paris Universelle Exposition by A.-A. Caqué 50mm white metal medal 50.5 grams
Obverse: Napoleon III facing left NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR / CAQUÉ F.
Reverse: allegorical France, seated, surrounded by symbolic objects and holding a laurel wreath and a Legion of Honor /CAQUÉ F, / UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION / 1855 MASSONET EDITOR ÉDITEUR
Edge: Plain
Armand-Auguste Caqué (1793-1881) French engraver, medalist. Born Saintes, France, 1793.
Employed at Hague Royal Mint 1817-1818. Appointed Chief Engraver to Napoleon III 1858-1881.
The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris from 15 May to 15 November 1855. According to its official report, 5,162,330 visitors attended the exposition, of whom about 4.2 million entered the industrial exposition and 0.9 million entered the Beaux Arts exposition. Expenses amounted to upward of $5,000,000, while receipts were scarcely one-tenth of that amount. The exposition covered 16 hectares (40 acres) with 34 countries participating.