[LOUIS NAPOLEON].
Cylindrical black lacquered wooden box.
Diameter 90 mm; height 21 mm. With a lacquered engraved portrait of Louis Napoleon mounted on the centre of the lid, below his coat-of-arms (an eagle facing to the viewers right with the motto "Vox populi vox Dei" and the caption "Lélu du peuple") and above the total number of votes (7,481,231) cast for him on 21 December 1851; the portrait is surrounded by the names of all the French Departments (Ain, Aisne ... Yonne), the colonies and the army, each with the exact number of votes for and against him. With a red ribbon to open the box.
€ 2,500
A lacquered wooden box probably designed to contain a commemorative medal: most likely the one made by Jean Pierre Montagny (1789-1862), "Réélection de Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, 21 Décembre 1851", mentioning the same number of votes and the motto "La voix du peuple est la voix de Dieu" (Musée Carnevalet, Hist. de Paris, ND9217, 36 mm diameter).
There are also (stipple-) engraved roundels to be stored in the box: 32 engraved portraits, maps, engraved texts and parts of print series, plus 69 duplicates, each cut to a circular (diameter mostly ca. 75-80 mm; one 60 mm; [Paris, 1800-1840]). These roundels contain portraits, scenes from plays and vaudeville routines, series on costumes, etc.
In good condition. Gisela Geywitz, Das Plebiszit in 1851 in Frankreich. Diss. Tübingen, 1965.
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