An old picture to identify

[johngreen]

Many years ago I gained a handful of photos from a semi-derelict property in near Metz in Northern France one of which is of some sort of ceremony or prize giving connected with aviation in a period I presume to be just after the first world war. My wish to identify it is of no great importance but having just rediscovered it after about 30 years, I thought you history buffs might enjoy it as an exercise of identification.

It's a very substantial trophy on the table and there are some very happy looking chappies among the less cheerful entourage.

The image is stamped on the reverse 'Ligue Internationa des Aviateurs, Clos Normand, Forte Maillot, Bois de Boulogne Paris -France.

Over to you....

[treadigraph]

Think this must be it:

"Alphonse XIII d'Espagne signed the inauguration of a new line aérienne between Séville, Madrid and Lisbon, in the years 1920." (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

https://www.gettyimages.com.br/detai...?adppopup=true

(You could have popped round and knocked on the door John!)

[Zaxis]

The trophy caught my eye so did a quick Google search and turned up
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...ophy_award.jpg
Possibly the same occasion? No date but could be 1925 or later, see below


and
https://www.askart.com/auction_recor...a_Mdivani.aspx
It being auctioned in 2013.


Perhaps others can fill in more details.

[johngreen]

Thank you both for the info.

That was very quick Treaders; did you somehow use a image search engine to find that match or did you already know something?

It's also a bit reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who is not our partying on a Saturday night though pondering old photos was a darned sight more interesting than the previous task of cleaning someone else's grease out of the cooker hood...

Would it be an good idea to start a thread along the lines of Name that Flying Machine / What Cockpit but with just any sort of curious historical image? Would the mods approve?

[treadigraph]

I'd love to be able to say I knew but it was Google Image Search - took a double search though, Getty Images threw up a heck of a lot of returns amongst which I assume they'd kindly hidden it.

[papabravowhiskey]

There is a Wiki page about the Harmon Trophy, which was originally three trophies for different categories and then national trophies in addition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmon_Trophy

[Zaxis]

A very cold day in Scotland encourages you to sit in a warm spot and idle away a few hours solving a mystery. It seems Commander Franco was an interesting person to dig deeper about. Brother of General Franco, long range aviation pioneer, politician of flexible allegiances, hero in Spanish speaking parts of the world, rescued mid ocean by the Royal Navy, postage stamp issued commemorating his Spain-Argentina flight in 1926 ( reason for trophy?) and the Donier Wal he flew still exists in an Argentinian air museum plus a replica in Spain.
A google search on his name, add Spain as an extra filter, throws up a lot and a search on Ebay (!) a bit more. Thank you John for saving my day.

[john_tullamarine]

I never cease to be amazed - utterly - by the wealth of knowledge and capability within the PPRuNe sandpit.

[johngreen]

Originally Posted by john_tullamarine

I never cease to be amazed - utterly - by the wealth of knowledge and capability within the PPRuNe sandpit.

I couldn't agree more - but this story has far from ended yet...

Having been much involved in the world of art, that sculpture appears to me to be a very impressive bit of work from someone who must have been so young.
Isabelle Princesse Roussadana Mdivani (1905 - 1938). I wondered rather how it might be that she would be commissioned to make such a trophy but reading about her family background it is perhaps now less surprising. Celebrities of an earlier age and a good example of how temporary such fame can be.

Isabelle Roussadana, known as “Roussy,” was the more conniving of the sisters, “insuring herself against poverty,” wrote an acquaintance, “by methods that would have shocked even Becky Sharp,” Thackeray’s quintessential social climber in Vanity Fair. Roussy had drawn attention in Paris with her looks—she was tall, sleek, and stunning, with streaked ash blond hair—but also by cultivating an image as an eccentric, always accompanied “by two monkeys dressed in rich Oriental brocades and aglow with diamonds and emeralds and other jewels,” wrote her onetime sister-in-law Pola Negri. It was an artist’s affectation. She was a sculptor who specialized in busts of famous individuals—including, during a trip to Boston, former president Calvin Coolidge and former Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes—and in trophies awarded for aeronautic competitions. “I am wedded to my art,” she told a reporter during her Boston foray, “but any suitor may have his monument made.”

From https://lamag.com/celebrity/how-an-e...al-kardashians

And what a stunning looking woman....

Instagram

[johngreen]

Thank you John for saving my day.

You are of course most welcome Zaxis. I only wish my responsibility might have been more than just posting an old picture....