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Auction: 317 - The Collector's Series
Lot: 981

France. French Geodesic Mission Medals, 1744. Trio of modern Paris mint restrikes in Silver ("1973" on edge) and Bronze (2). 41mm. Louis XIV bust right, rev. The French king standing atop the globe, flanked by cherubs with measuring devices; "MISSIS AD AEQUATOREM ET POLUM ARCTICUM ASTRONOMIS" and Roman date in ex. The purpose of the Geodesic Mission was to conclusively put to rest whether the circumference of the Earth was greater around the Equator or greater around the Poles. To this end, two expeditions were sent out: one to Lapland near the North Pole, led by Swedish physicist Anders Celsius and French mathematician Pierre Maupertuis; the other was sent to Ecuador, at the Equator, led by French astronomers Charles Marie de La Condamine, Pierre Bouguer, Louis Godin and Spanish geographers Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa. The silver, AU with some hairlines, the Bronze, Uncirculated, one Matte. (3)

Sold for
$60