Very scarce Paris 1900 Olympic Games 'Concours d'Automobiles' gold winner's prize medal plaque awarded to Mr Emile Delahaye (1843-1905) for the four-s

Very scarce Paris 1900 Olympic Games 'Concours d'Automobiles' gold winner's prize medal plaque awarded to Mr Emile Delahaye (1843-1905) for the four-seater touring cars (>400kg.), by Frederic Vernon (1858-1912) awarded for an automobile motoring event held in conjunction with the 1900 Exposition Universelle although deemed 'unofficial' as part of the Paris 1900 Olympiad, rectangular, struck with design in relief to both sides, the obverse bearing text REPUBLIQUE FRAN?AISE PARIS 1900 EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE and an image of the winged Goddess of Victory Nike, against a Paris cityscape, and scattering laurel leaves, with sculptor's name F VERNON to lower right corner, the reverse struck with image of a victorious ancient Greek Olympic athlete on a podium against an Athenian cityscape, inscribed with text to lower edge CONCOURS D'AUTOMOBILES, stamped with French Assay mark and OR to lower edge, 58 by 41cm., in fitted case, stamped gilt Mr. DELAHAYE France, who would host the 1900 Olympic Games, was the country where motorsport first developed. In 1894, a reliability competition was organised between Paris and Rouen with a FFR 5,000 prize. The next year, the first race in which speed played the major role was contested. The forerunner of what would later become l'Automobile Club de France (ACF) organised a race from Paris to Bordeaux and back. The winner was ?mile Levassor, driving a Panhard-Levassor car, although he was disqualified as thes car didn't have the required number of seats. The Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race also saw an entry by Andre Michelin, who was the first to equip his car with pneumatic tyres. That same year, races were also organised in Italy and in the United States. The so-called 'city to city' racing grew in popularity. In the following years, the ACF organised Paris-Marseille-Paris (1896), Paris-Amsterdam-Paris (1898), Le Tour de France (1899), Paris-Toulouse-Paris (1900), Paris-Berlin (1901) and Paris-Vienna (1902). The 1903 race, Paris-Madrid, would be the last in this row. The event was stopped after several accidents killed eight people, and the French government subsequently banned motor racing on public roads. In 1900, another famous series of annual races was initiated. American businessman James Gordon Bennett came up with the idea of a race in which each national automobile club could enter three cars. Although the Gordon Bennett Trophies only lasted until 1905, they were the first true international racing series. At the 1900 Paris Olympic Games 16 events for automobiles and motorcycles were contested. These events can be divided into two groups. The first group consists of the aforementioned Paris-Toulouse-Paris race. This race, which featured cars, voiturettes and motorcycles, can best be compared to a present-day rally: the event was conducted on open roads, held in various stages, and the race was against the clock, not directly against opponents. The second group consisted of reliability contests organised in six different categories, some of them containing subcategories. What is being offered here at the auction is a gold winner's medal. It was awarded to Mr Emile Delahaye (1843-1905) for the victory of his company's car (driver unknown) in the event for four-seater touring cars greater than 400kg. These solid 22k. gold medals are extremely scarce. The vast majority of winners at the 1900 Paris Games received examples in silver-gilt. The IOC Olympic Museum in Lausanne has one solid gold example, also awarded for motor racing; whilst significantly less than a handful are known to be in private collections around the world, including examples for gymnastics and water polo. Delahaye was an automotive manufacturing company founded by Emile Delahaye in 1894 in his home town of Tours in central-west France. His Type 1 car was an instant success, and he urgently needed investment capital and a larger manufacturing facility. Both were provided by a new Delahaye owner and fellow racer, George Morane, and his brother-in-law Leon Desmarais, who partnered with ?mile in the incorporation of the new automotive company, ''Societe Des Automobiles Delahaye.'' Delahaye's involvement in motor sport was from these very formative years and in 1896 he entered two cars for the Paris-Marseille-Paris race, driving one of them himself into eighth place. Success then followed in 1897 with a win in the six-seater class at the Paris-Dieppe, the car racing with a full complement of passengers. At this same period, however, the founder's health was beginning to fail. A year after the enjoyment of his Olympic Games success, Emile resigned from the business due to his incapacity to continue and he sold his shares equally to his two business partners. He died in 1905, and with his death came the end of the company's involvement in motor racing. Delahaye became focused in the markets of heavy commercial vehicles and fire engines. The Delahaye brand finally disappeared in 1956, with their facilities absorbed by the giant Brandt organisation.