Description

Punch mark:  <Cornucopiae>COPPER

Sold with its red leather case.

Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon, was a French philanthropist and economist, born in Paris on December 23, 1733, and who died there on December 29, 1820.

After beginning his career as a lawyer at the Châtelet in 1755, he became maître des requêtes at the Conseil d’État, and later served as intendant of various provinces such as Auvergne and Provence. Recalled to Paris in 1775 to serve as Councillor of State, he was subsequently appointed Chancellor to Monsieur, the King’s brother, in 1780. Extremely wealthy, he established several prizes awarded by learned societies, notably the Prize for Virtue granted by the Académie Française to deserving individuals, which was first awarded in 1782.

He emigrated at the onset of the Revolution and only returned to France in 1814, under the Restoration. Upon his death, he bequeathed to the Institut de France the income from a significant capital to reward exemplary works and actions: the Prize for Virtue, a literary prize, and a scientific prize, all three of which became known as the Montyon Prizes.