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FRANCE: Napoleon I, as First Consul, 1799-1804, AE medal (97.88g), 1800. AU

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - Europe Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:250.00 - 300.00 USD
FRANCE: Napoleon I, as First Consul, 1799-1804, AE medal (97.88g), 1800. AU
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FRANCE: Napoleon I, as First Consul, 1799-1804, AE medal (97.88g), 1800, cf. Bramsen-63, Forrer I, 688, 56mm bronze medal for the National Column of Place Vendôme by Pierre Simon Benjamin Duvivier, UNIFORMED bust of Napoleon right with BONAPARTE PREMIER CONSUL above and CAMBACÉRÈS SECOND CONSUL / LEBRUN TROISIEme. CONSUL / DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE / FRANÇAISE below // LE PEUPLE FRANÇAIS A SES DÉRENSEURS / PREMIERE PIERRE / DE LA COLONNENATIONle. / POSÉE PAR / LUCIEN BONAPARTE / MINISTREDE L'INTÉRIEUR / 26 MESSIDOR AN 8 / 14 JUILLET 1800, mostly brown, some red, a few marks in right obverse field, plain edge, About Unc. Lucien, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and Minister of the Interior, laid the first stone of a column at Place Vendome on July 14, 1800 (25 Messidor Year VIII). Without success, the idea was resumed in 1803 by the First Consul who confirmed the erection of a column at Vendome Square like the one raised in Rome, in honor of Trajan, decorated with 108 figures of the departments assembled in spiral form and surmounted by the statue of Charlemagne. First dedicated to the Glory of the French People, the column would quickly become the glory of Napoleon I, but the construction was slow and it was not until 1805 and the melting of 1200 guns taken from the enemy that the project, revived by Vivant Denon, advanced. Completed in 1810 and dedicated to the glory of the victorious armies, the column was named the Column of the Grand Army. A statue of Napoleon as Caesar by the sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763-1810) was placed at the top.