France. Eugenie & Napoleon III. Exposition Universelle in Paris 1855.

Medal commemorating the Exposition Universelle in Paris 1855.

Engraved year 1855 by Armand Auguste Caqué. Zinc 50 mm. Weight 51,8 gram.

Obverse: Portraits of Eugénie and Napoléon III, left. "EUGÉNIE IMPÉRATRICE. NAPOLÉON III EMPEREUR". Engraver's name under the portraits "CAQUÉ. F." (Armand Auguste Caqué).

Reverse: View of the north pavilion of the Palais de l'Industrie. "PALAIS DE L'INDUSTRIE", "PAVILLON DU NORD". With smaller text, left "J. WIENER F.", and bottom "GERVAIS ET CIE EDIT".

Edge: Smooth with punch inscription "ZINC".

NAPOLEON III (1808-1873)
Napoleon III (egentligen Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte), fram till kröningen 1852 även kallad Ludvig Napoleon, född 20 april 1808 i Paris, död 9 januari 1873, var fransk president 1848–1852, och som Napoleon III fransmännens kejsare 1852–1870. Napoleon III gifte sig 1853 med den spanska grevinnan Eugénie de Montijo e Guzmán. De fick en son, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte.

EUGENIE (1826-1920)
Eugénie de Montijo, 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920, was Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until the Emperor was overthrown on 4 September 1870. From 28 July to 4 September 1870, she was the de facto head of state of France.

Born to prominent Spanish nobility, Eugénie was educated in France, Spain, and England. As Empress, she used her influence to champion "authoritarian and clerical policies"; her involvement in politics earned her much criticism from contemporaries. Napoléon and Eugénie had one child together, Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–1879). After the fall of the Empire, the three lived in exile in England; Eugénie outlived both her husband and son and spent the remainder of her life working to commemorate their memories and the memory of the Second Empire.

THE EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE IN PARIS 1855
The Exposition Universelle of 1855, better known in English as the 1855 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855. It was the first of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937.

According to its official report, 5,162,330 visitors attended the exposition, of whom about 4.2 million entered the industrial exposition and 900,000 entered the Beaux Arts exposition. Expenses amounted to upward of $5,000,000, while receipts were scarcely one-tenth of that amount. The exposition covered 16 hectares with 34 countries participating.

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