What May Lie Within It's Cover?

[leeg]

Magic I say!

 

 

 

 

1900 Paris Exposition Aux Galeries Lafayette Book

Edile Par Les Grands Magasin Aux Galaries Lafayette Paris. Measures 11 x 14, all photographs are full page and some double pages. Has tissue paper between each photograph print.

[cpm9ball]

Very nice, Lee! Can we get a peek inside?

 

Chris

[TomB]

Well, let's find out!!!

[leeg]

Ok, here's a little peek:

 

 

 

[cpm9ball]

That's a wonderful photo of the Arc de Triomphe at the turn of the century. I like seeing the horse-drawn carriages on the street amid the automobiles.

 

Your post reminded me of the book I purchased a few years ago, Olympic Medals and Coins: 510 B.C. - 1994, by Victor Gadoury. It has been a great resource for some of my Oympic-related medals from the latter half of the 19th century.

 

Chris

[HiHoAudio]

Heck of a nice coffee table book!

[Hard Times]

Very nice, can't wait to see more. These days, every time I am in Paris, l'Arc is much busier than shown in this image. The surfaces have also been cleaned so there is no smoky grime as shown on some of its walls - does this dipping make it ; 'Genuine but Cleaned, AU Details' or does it move it up to 'blast white' MS65 condition?

[Chris1976]

Very nice picture. I've never been there, but back when I was junior high I did have a pen pal that lived there. Ever since then I have always wanted to go just once to be able to walk around.

 

-Chris#2

[cpm9ball]

Very nice, can't wait to see more. These days, every time I am in Paris, l'Arc is much busier than shown in this image. The surfaces have also been cleaned so there is no smoky grime as shown on some of its walls - does this dipping make it ; 'Genuine but Cleaned, AU Details' or does it move it up to 'blast white' MS65 condition?

 

It looks like it could be DMPL...........Deep Mirror Paris Like

 

Chris

[leeg]

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts. (thumbs u

 

I'm very happy to have found this volume because my theme behind this post is the 1900 Lafayette Dollar.

 

I hope Paul doesn't mind me sharing his example:

 

 

In 1900, there was erected during the period of the exposition in Paris, a monument to General Lafayette-the gift of the American people. About $50,000 of the funds required were contributed by the pennies of the school children of America. The planning, financing and erecting of this statue were undertaken by the Lafayette Memorial Commission. The statue itself was the work of Paul Bartlett.

 

Bartlett

 

 

(EXTRACT FROM) [PUBLIC—NO.188—55TH CONGRESS]

 

LAFAYETTE MONUMENT: For the purpose of aiding in defraying the cost of a pedestal, and completing in a suitable manner the work of erecting a monument in the city of Paris to General Lafayette, designed by the Lafayette Memorial Commission, as a feature of the participation of the United States in the Paris Exposition of nineteen hundred the Secretary of the Treasury shall be, and is hereby authorized to purchase in the market twenty-five thousand dollars worth of silver bullion, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purpose herein provided for, from which there shall be coined at the mints of the United States silver dollars of the legal weight and fineness to the number of fifty thousand pieces, to be known as the Lafayette dollar, struck in commemoration of the of a monument to General Lafayette, in the city of Paris, France, by the youth of the United States, the devices and designs upon which coins shall be prescribed by the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, and all provisions of law, relative to the coinage, and legal tender quality, of the present silver dollars shall be applicable to the coins issued under this Act, and when so coined, there is hereby appropriated from the Treasury the said fifty thousand of souvenir dollars, and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to place the same at the disposal of the Lafayette Memorial Commission, a commission organized under the direction and authority of the Commissioner-General for the United States to the Paris Exposition of nineteen hundred.

 

Approved, March 8, 1899.

 

 

 

 

The fact that this Act specified that the silver was to be purchased in the market is worthy of note because of the special arrangements in the Columbian issues which provided for the coinage from uncurrent subsidiary silver.

 

The coins were to be sold for two dollars each; and again there were comments in the newspapers questioning the ulterior motives of Congress in making the people pay.

 

While the designs were in progress, some difficulty arose over the date. The Commissioners desired the delivery of these pieces as early as possible in the year 1899, although the coins were to bear the date 1900. It was contrary to the practice of the Mint to anticipate the dating of a coin. The difficulty was happily avoided by wording the inscription “Erected by the youth of the United States….1900.” This date, therefore, was independent of the year in which the coin was struck.

 

Lafayette

 

The coinage took place on December 14th, 1899, the one-hundredth anniversary of the death of Washington. The entire issue was struck in one day on an old coining-press which made eighty coins per minute. The first coin struck was forwarded to President McKinley who sent it to the President of the French Republic.

 

The dies were cut by C.E. Barber, of the Mint; the head of Washington was from the Houdon bust, and head of Lafayette from the “Defender of American and French Liberty” medal made by the French artist Caunois, in 1824. The statue on the reverse was taken from Bartlett’s before a number of final changes were made and differs in many respects from the statue as it now stands in Paris.

 

Image courtesy of Ira and Larry Goldberg.

[mtnstyne]

That photo being black and white really make the details pop! I'll go MS64

[Hard Times]

Historically it is interesting that Galeries Lafayatte issued this photographic record of Paris in 1900 Expo. The Galeries was fairly new then and it was probably a good advertising venture to issue the book. The Galeries are still a Paris shopping icon today, although one wonders if the history of its namesake is recognized more than the clothing brands inside. It has a central domed room around which are balconies on every floor providing all kinds of different perspectives looking up and down, and the metal and glass work of the dome itself is simply an architectural wonder and worth a look. It lies in the 9th arrondissement, north of the Champs Elysses, the Seine and the Louvre, a couple blocks from the Opera House, and a few away form Le Gare Saint Lazarre, where Monet made a spectacular series of paintings. To take in the ambiance of Le Gare even today and to know Monet was there, well........

 

Show us more!

 

 

[leeg]

It has a central domed room around which are balconies on every floor providing all kinds of different perspectives looking up and down, and the metal and glass work of the dome itself is simply an architectural wonder and worth a look.

 

Show us more!

 

Funny you mentioned that.

 

 

[Chris1976]

funny that the Lingere and Corsets are across from each other . Very interesting picture for sure. Buildings just dont have as much time, thought and/or effort put into them like they did back when this picture was taken.

 

-Chris#2

[leeg]

[cpm9ball]

 

I really like some of the hats the men wore in those days. They look so much classier than the baseball caps everyone wears today.

 

See the man in the street carrying the package under his arm? (left foreground) Is that a hat on the woman directly behind him, or is the lower portion on her shoulders a fur collar?

 

Even the kids are wearing hats.....young man (right foreground).....young girl on the sidewalk.

 

There must be a large store or hotel or something a couple of blocks down on the right. Look at the size of the letter "P" between the tree and the building.

 

The building on the far left is 7 stories with a mansard roof. I wonder if there is an 8th floor that serves as bedrooms for the apartments immediately below or maybe they were artists' lofts? It would have been interesting to go inside some of those buildings to see how they were constructed. I guess the Parisians felt lucky that the city was spared from the destruction of World War II. I wonder if any of those buildings still stand today? Probably not!

 

Chris

[Hard Times]

These days the floor area in from of each balcony at les Galeries represents a different brand of clothes, shoes, purses, or perfumes, so essentially each is a specialty boutique. And of course, each has one or more stunning sales persons to attend and show each of their items. Fairly Similar in outlay to most department stores these days, but fill of high-end brands. I remember one search where my wife and I were looking for a sweater for her there. Prices were over a 1000 Euros for what seemed to be very ordinary, but clean and quality frabic, sweaters. So we thought, okay, let's go to la Samaritaine (on the Seine up from Le Louvre toward Le Pont Neuf) instead. Well, the prices dropped to around 500 euros! That is like 5 nights in our run-down hotel........ Okay, then, let's keep looking!

 

I don't believe I have ever seen la Porte Saint-Denis in real life. I am sure I have been very near it, but leeg this is great, show us even more, it seems like I still have lots to see en Paris!

[Kamillion]

Very nice, can't wait to see more. These days, every time I am in Paris, l'Arc is much busier than shown in this image. The surfaces have also been cleaned so there is no smoky grime as shown on some of its walls - does this dipping make it ; 'Genuine but Cleaned, AU Details' or does it move it up to 'blast white' MS65 condition?

 

It looks like it could be DMPL...........Deep Mirror Paris Like

 

Chris

 

i lol'd

[leeg]

See the man in the street carrying the package under his arm? (left foreground) Is that a hat on the woman directly behind him, or is the lower portion on her shoulders a fur collar?Chris

Yes & Yes.

 

[WoodenJefferson]

funny that the Lingere and Corsets are across from each other . Very interesting picture for sure. Buildings just dont have as much time, thought and/or effort put into them like they did back when this picture was taken.

 

-Chris#2

 

How do you think the old saying got started that elevator operators frequently used, "3rd floor, ladies wear, corsets, girdles, lingerie"

 

or in this case being a lift man in Paris it might very well be`"parquetez trois, dames portent, des corsets, ceintures, lingerie"

 

Nice turn of the century book the Lee