Reference:5198 Paris Universal Exposition: Imperial Commissioner's Medal, 1867

Bust of Napoleon III to left. /

Winged female figure, flying above a globe, displays a plan of the Exposition site. 

By H. Ponscarme.

Silver. 50 mm.

Condition: Extremely Fine and a particularly choice medal

Notes:

The silver Commissioner's Medal, which is not usually named, has a provenance to Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.I.E. (1828-94).

In 1863 an Imperial Commission comprising sixty members was constituted for the organization of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. Sir Francis Phillip Cunliffe-Owen was appointed superintendent of the British Section at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1855 and director of the foreign section of the 1862 International Exhibition held in London. He helped Sir Henry Cole as assistant executive commissioner at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867 and, as Secretary of the Royal Commission, represented Britain at the Vienna Universal Exposition in 1873. Cunliffe-Owen had long been Director of the South Kensington Museum and on his retirement in 1893, it was split into the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum.