{"id":5611,"date":"2026-08-26T04:25:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/?page_id=5611"},"modified":"2026-08-26T04:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:25:20","slug":"5611-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/?page_id=5611","title":{"rendered":"lot 109"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1\">Lot 109<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-columns stk-block-columns stk-block stk-7eabb69\" data-block-id=\"7eabb69\"><style>.stk-7eabb69 {margin-bottom:0px !important;}<\/style><div class=\"stk-row stk-inner-blocks stk-block-content stk-content-align stk-7eabb69-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-column stk-block-column stk-column stk-block stk-67121c4\" data-v=\"4\" data-block-id=\"67121c4\"><div class=\"stk-column-wrapper stk-block-column__content stk-container stk-67121c4-container stk--no-background stk--no-padding\"><div class=\"stk-block-content stk-inner-blocks stk-67121c4-inner-blocks\">\n<p class=\"has-palette-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph\">Spectacular large photograph, (7 \u00bd\u201d x 10 \u00bd\u201d), titled \u201cLa Centaure\u201d,(sic),&nbsp; at Vincennes before departure for Russia, Oct 1900.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-palette-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3 wp-block-paragraph\">This outstanding image has great tones and contrast and we see one of the daredevil pilots putting on a show for a number of the spectators behind the rope. Of course, local dignitaries mill around the balloon admiring it\u2019s features and talking with the pilots. There is a police or military man watching guard on the right side with two more joining on the left side. The unidentified photographer has created an artistic scene with hand painted white clouds while also adding accents to the weighted bags on the ground. The tones and contrast are strong with sharp detail. A little wear as seen with a swipe of the photographer\u2019s tint on the bottom right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-palette-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4 wp-block-paragraph\">Opening Bid: $75<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-column stk-block-column stk-column stk-block stk-88ccd49\" data-v=\"4\" data-block-id=\"88ccd49\"><div class=\"stk-column-wrapper stk-block-column__content stk-container stk-88ccd49-container stk--no-background stk--no-padding\"><div class=\"stk-block-content stk-inner-blocks stk-88ccd49-inner-blocks\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-736x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5612\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-736x1024.jpg 736w, https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-108x150.jpg 108w, https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-216x300.jpg 216w, https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-768x1068.jpg 768w, https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-1104x1536.jpg 1104w, https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109-1472x2048.jpg 1472w, https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lot109.jpg 1592w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-palette-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5 wp-block-paragraph\">According to the website, <em>This Day in Aviation<\/em>, \u201c9\u201310 October 1900: The A\u00e9ro-Club de France held a long-distance balloon race, coinciding with the World\u2019s Fair and Olympic Games. Six balloon teams competed for the Grand Prix, including that of Henri Fran\u00e7ois Joseph, Comte de la Vaulx, and Joseph F\u00e9lix Georges, Comte de Castillon de Saint-Victor, co-founders, along with several others, including Jules Verne, of the Aero Club.\u201d From the <em>American Monthly Review of Reviews, Vol. 23, January\u2013June 2001,<\/em> beginning at Page 609, \u201cOf the six balloons entered for this record-breaking race, the Centaur was one of the smaller, its dimensions being 1,630 cubic meters, while its chief competitor, the St. Louis, measured 3,000 cubic meters. The Centaur rose from the grounds at Vincennes at 20 minutes past 5 in the afternoon of October 9.<br>From Count de la Vaulx\u2019s account of the journey, which appears in <em>Pearson\u2019s<\/em> for April, we glean the following facts: \u201cOur direction at the start was north-north-east, and very soon, the sun having gone down, Paris was nothing for us but a vast, vaguely defined patch of luminosity far to the west. The Centaur was in equilibrium at about 5,000 feet [1,524 meters] above the sea-level, when the moon rose with such a radiant brilliance that we could read all our instruments without the aid of the electric lamp. Every now and then a shooting star traversed the vault of heaven, inciting us to wish for the success of our enterprise. . . .\u201d<br>Count de la Vaulx described the route of the flight, the cities and landmarks that they passed over, the weather and temperatures at various altitudes. At several times during the race, they were in sight of another balloon, the larger St. Louis.<br>Centaur ascended as high as 22,000 feet (6,706 meters) and experienced temperatures as low as -12 \u00b0C. (10 \u00b0F.) The changes in air temperature caused the gas in the balloon to expand and contract, and it rose and fell as the density of the gas varied.<br>Having expended their supply of breathing oxygen, the two aeronauts opened the balloon\u2019s vents to descend closer to the ground. Their anchor rope caught in some trees and Centaur came to earth shortly thereafter.<br>La Vaulx and Saint-Victor had landed near Korostyshiv, Ukraine. The two counts had traveled 1,153 miles (1,856 kilometers) in 35\u00be hours.<br>Having crossed the Russian frontier without passports, the two gentlemen were held in custody for four days before being allowed to return to France by train.\u201d<br>The National Air and Space Museum also has a wonderful article on their website about the only time ballooning was an Olympic Sport!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lot 109 Spectacular large photograph, (7 \u00bd\u201d x 10 \u00bd\u201d), titled \u201cLa Centaure\u201d,(sic),&nbsp; at Vincennes before departure for Russia, Oct 1900. This outstanding image has great tones and contrast and we see one of the daredevil pilots putting on a show for a number of the spectators behind the rope. Of course, local dignitaries mill [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5611","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5614,"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5611\/revisions\/5614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitolgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}