A SILVER MEDAL FOR THE COMPAGNIE UNIVERSELLE DU CANAL MARITIME DE SUEZ COMMEMORATING THE OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL, 1869

by Oscar Roty, obverse, allegorical diaphanous figure of Trade seated on cotton bale, holds aloft the light of Progress to the standing figure of Industry, beyond, a sketched route of the Suez Canal, reverse, legends -- 42mm.

Literature: Divo, Jean-Paul and Françoise Page-Divo, Médailles de Napoleon III, Zürich, 2001, no. 606

The Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez was formed in 1858 and the French Empress Eugénie presided over the inauguration ceremony of the canal on the 17^th November 1869. She was a cousin of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the canal, and was considered by him to be “the canal’s guardian angel”. French private investors were the majority of the shareholders, with Egypt also having a significant stake. However, in 1875, a financial crisis forced Isma'il, Khedive of Egypt, to sell his shares to the British Government for £3,976,582. The company continued to operate the canal until 1956, when it was nationalized by Colonel Nasser.