Vine Guy Gets Souvenir in Paris

Zack King creates popular fun short videos on Vine. Here's an appropriate video for we building collectors:

Statue of Liberty From Original Bartholdi Mold

For just $1.1 million, you can own a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Already have one you say? Not this replica. For this lofty price you get a replica made from the original plaster sculpture that Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi used to create the Statue of Liberty. Standing roughly nine feet tall instead of 151 feet tall for the lady in the harbor. The plaster model is from the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris where It has been since Bartholdi’s widow bequeathed it in 1907. But now, as reported by the New York Times, a French art dealer has been able to scan the delicate lady without harm and produce a limited number of bronze casts. Two have been sold already.

Souvenir Buildings in Advertising

Now that souvenir buildings made the front page of the Wall Street Journal, the miniature replicas are receiving even more attention. I noticed a poster in a FedEx store using a miniature metal Eiffel Tower to highlight their shipping services. Another ad I saw in a magazine is for United Airlines' Visa credit card and shows a happy family standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Their infant daughter (a future member of the SBCS?) holds a miniature version of the famous tower. I find it interesting that both used the same landmark. Is the Eiffel Tower souvenir the most popular and recognizable? Have you seen building replicas used in advertising? If so, send me examples.

Metropole Souvenir Building

Building Collector reader Mike M. wanted to share a story about a rare souvenir building he added to his collection.

He wrote:

“Last year, I was fortunate to have acquired a really cool deco building on eBay. It is a lead piece that stands a little over four inches tall and is inscribed simply “Metropole” on the front and “France” on the back. I had asked many collectors about the piece and none had any idea if it was a real building. Some thought it might have been destroyed during WWII. Others, myself included, thought it might be an advertising piece. Even internet searches did not solve my mystery. Finally, a few weeks ago I had a conversation with a fellow from New York named Ty and the mystery was solved. He has the same piece with a sticker on his saying “Exposition Coloniale Paris 1931.” Now that does make sense, its a futuristic deco tower in France which is no longer standing. The Section Metropolitaine designed by Alfred Audoul was one of the icons of that expo. The tower fronted a tremendously-large exposition hall of 452,000 square feet! The Metropole joins Temple of Angkor Wat and the Cambodian Pavilion as metal memoirs of the 1931 Exposition.”

Statue of Liberty...in Paris

We all know the Statue of Liberty. "Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States to commemorate the 100th anniversary of American independence. In fact, there are three Lady Liberty statues. The most famous stands at the entrance of New York harbor . . . a 151-foot statue of a woman holding a book and a torch on-high. Another, smaller statue casts her gaze from Swan Ally Island in the Seine River near the Grenelle Bridge in Paris. A third SOL stands among the flower gardens and fountains of Paris’ Luxembourg Gardens, which is home to the French Senate. This one is the original ‘life size’ cast created by architect and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Batholdi. She’s about 15 feet high on her pedestal and purveys the garden’s flowers and trees.