WORLD’S FAIR, MONTREAL EXPO, MAN AND HIS WORLD, 1967

OBVERSE: “EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE ET INTERNATIONALE” and “UNIVERSAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION” encircle this bronze medal, which was the Expo 67 official commemorative medal. Designed and minted by The Wellings Corporation Limited, Toronto, the obverse shows an organic swirl of wind, sand, and stars. Off-centered to the right is the Expo 67 logo, designed by Montreal artist Julien Hebert, portraying ancient pictograms of two men linked in friendship in a circular array of friendship worldwide. “MONTREAL CANADA 1967” is below; to the left is the designer’s signature “WELLINGS.”

REVERSE: The Expo 67 theme was “MAN AND HIS WORLD,” and, in French, “TERRE DES HOMMES” (literally, “Land of Men”). This theme was based on a 1939 book by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry titled Terre Des Hommes, translated by Lewis Galantière as “Wind, Sand and Stars.” The central male figure mimics the pose of the pictogram on the Expo 67 logo and is reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.