100632 | ROMANIA & FRANCE. Aristide Blank bronze Medal.

100632 | ROMANIA & FRANCE. Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne bronze Medal. Issued circa 1923. Commemorating the founding of the French-Romanian airline by Aristide Blank (72mm, 153.83 g, 12). By H. Nocq.

 

QUÆ SUNT QUÆ FUERINT QUÆ MOX VENTURA TRAHANTUR... (what is, what was, and what shall be...–adapted from the Georgics by Virgil), transportation scene: countryside setting featuring stagecoach driven left, locomotive emerging from right, biplane flying overhead to left, and antique racing car left to lower right / COMPAGNIE FRANCO ROUMAINE DE NAVIGATION AERIENNE / PARIS PRAGUE VARSOVIE VIENNE BUDAPEST BELGRADE BUCAREST CONSTANTINOPLE, two biplanes flying over outline of southeastern Europe, with the airline's routes highlighted; in two lines in exergue, FONDEE en AVRIL 1920 / PAR ARISTIDE BLANK. Edge: CUIVRE.

 

Dogan 6801. Choice Mint State. Splendid light brown-olive surfaces. A very rare and interesting piece of aviation history and judaica, featuring the 'transportation trinity' of planes, trains, and automobiles.

 

Born in București (Bucharest) to a wealthy Jewish-Romanian family in 1883/4, Aristide Blank followed his father into the world of finances, directing his family's bank, Banca Marmorosch, Blank & Co., as well as patronizing the arts and other humanistic causes. He founded the CFRNA (Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne)—the subject of this medal—sponsored a Romanian edition of the Bible, and founded the Cultura Națională (National Culture) publishing house, writing numerous social and economic analyses. A supporter of Jewish causes, he himself was the victim of an anti-semitic attack in Bucharest in 1924 while giving a lecture to a group of Romanian bankers. By 1950, persecuted by the communists under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Blank found himself financially ruined, ultimately fleeing to Paris.

 

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