604 - NADAR [Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910)]. Nadar’s “Le Géant” cigar set, circa 1865. Painted wooden base topped with two matchboxes, a scraper, and a replica hot-air balloon featuring a painted wooden cigar-cutter gondola and a boiler for holding cigars. Hollow, painted wooden balloon with hinges. Small decorative metal elements incorporated into the design. Metal lettering reading “Le Géant” on the balloon. Label beneath the base with the handwritten inscription “Smoker’s set. Le Géant de Nadar, 1865 [illegible].” Dimensions: 33.5 x 19.5 x 19.5 cm. Once part of the collection of Charles Dollfus, director of the Meudon Museum of Aeronautics, this cigar case was featured in 1965 in an exhibition dedicated to Félix Nadar at the National Library. A passionate enthusiast of aeronautics, the famous photographer Nadar had a massive balloon built in 1863, named “The Giant,” which stood 40 meters tall. Open to the public and requiring an admission fee, the balloon’s sensational exhibitions were intended to finance research into “heavier-than-air” aircraft, a field in which Nadar was a pioneer. The inaugural flight of Le Géant took place on October 4, 1863, at the Champ-de-Mars. Bibliography: Alix Chevallier, Nadar, Paris, National Library, March 19–May 16, 1965, entry 341.