World Medals: Chaplain, Jules-Clément (French, 1839-1909); b. Mortagne-au-Perche, and Dubois, Henri-Alfred-Auguste (French, 1859-1943); b. Rome, moved to France by 1863 FRANCE/BELGIUM, Minerve, or Au Mérite [Minerva, or For Merit], 1880, an Art Nouveau silver award medal by J.-C. Chaplain and H.-A.-A. Dubois, Minerva seated half-right, holding a laurel wreath in her right hand and a palm-branch in her left, attended by cherubs, rev. wreath, named (Hommages des Électriciens à Zenobe Gramme, Inventeur de la Dynamo Industrielle, Bruxelles, 27 Mars 1898), edge impressed argent and cornucopia, 68mm, 149.91g (CGMP p.78; BM Acq. 1978-82, p.39, 30; BDM I, 404; cf. CGB June 2024, 88; cf. Stack’s/Bowers June 2019, 71342; cf. Silich III, 941). Extremely fine, toned £150-£200 Provenance: Bt A.C. Eimer June 2004. Zenobé-Théophile Gramme (1826-1901), electrical engineer, b. Jehay-Bodegnée, Liège; moved to Paris 1856; inventor of the gramme in 1869, a type of direct continuous current dynamo (DC) capable of generating much higher voltages than the extant alternating dynamos (AC) of the time