Aviation Balloon Pendant - Montgolfier Brothers, France, 1783

Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) were paper manufacturers from Annonay, in Ardèche, France best known as inventors of the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique.

Piloted Flight, Autumn 1783.  Since the previous animal survived test flights, the king allowed flights with humans. Again in collaboration with Réveillon, Étienne built a 60,000-cubic-foot (1,700 m3) balloon for the purpose of making flights with humans.It was about seventy-five feet (23 m) tall and about fifty feet (15 m) in diameter. Réveillon supplied rich decorative touches of gold figures on a deep blue background, including fleur-de-lis, signs of the zodiac, and suns with Louis XVI's face in the center interlaced with the royal monogram in the central section. Red and blue drapery and golden eagles were at the base of the balloon. Étienne Montgolfier was the first human to lift off the Earth, making a tethered test flight from the yard of the Réveillon workshop in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, most likely on 15 October 1783. A little while later on that same day, physicist Pilâtre de Rozier became the second to ascend into the air, to an altitude of 80 feet (24 m), which was the length of the tether.

Made in the U.S.A.  1” x 1” Pendant on 18” cord (20” cord with included cord extender).  Please note as these are hand made and very slight variations may occur as well as an additional day or two of processing might be required. Printed on metal, using our Museum Company® Proprietary Metal Printing Process.

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