Commemorative, Historical and Art Medals

France, Jean Charcot, c. 1930, a bronze medal by P. Richer and E.E. Lindaeur, bust right, rev. expéditions polaires françaises, his ship, the Pourquoi Pas?, moored in the ice, 68mm (cf. DNW 37, 1299). Very fine £90-120

Jean Baptiste Charcot (1867-1936), French scientist and polar explorer. Charcot mapped the west coast of the Antarctic and, on his 1908-10 expedition aboard the Pourquoi Pas?, attempted to reach the South Pole. On an expedition to Greenland in 1936 his ship foundered off the coast of Iceland and Charcot drowned