PANAMA - PANAMA Third Republic (1870-1940). Medal, Bunau-Varilla chief engineer of the Panama Canal, by J.-C. Chaplain 1904, Paris. Av. PHILIPPE BUNAU-VARILLA. Bust of Philippe Bunau-Varilla on the left, above EXEGIT. MONVMENTVM. ÆRE/ PERENNIVS, behind TRAITE. HAY. BUNAU-VARILLA/ 18. NOVEMBER. 1903, before signature J.C. CHAPLAIN. Rv. DRAFT. OF. OF. PANAMA/ SEPTEMBER. 1905. A victory holding a crown and a steamship flying over the Panama Canal project between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Maier 86; Silver - 76 mm - 12 h NGC MS 62 (6647333-002). Hallmark (horn)1 SILVER. Minor marks and a delicate grey patina. Very rare. Superb at Fleur de coin. Philippe Bunau-Varilla (1859-1940) was a French engineer who took part in the Panama scandal. In 1901, lacking support in France, he went on a crusade in the United States to convince that country to complete the Panama Canal. In 1902, his efforts were crowned with success when the United States Congress made the Panama Canal the official project of the United States government. John Hay, President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of State, then conducted delicate negotiations with Colombia (of which Panama was then a department), culminating in the signing of the Hay-Herrán Treaty in 1903. When Colombia refused to ratify the treaty, a group of Panamanian independence fighters decided to secede. Philippe Bunau-Varilla sided with the insurgents and became one of the organisers of the revolution, supported by the United States, which led to Panama's independence. Philippe Bunau-Varilla was then appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Panama, and in November 1903 took charge of negotiating the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty in Washington, which granted the United States the concession of the Panama Canal and an American zone right in the centre of the new country, in perpetuity. This treaty, negotiated in a fortnight, led to the protection of the Republic of Panama by the United States Army and Navy, the election of Theodore Roosevelt in 1904, and the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914. During the First World War, Bunau-Varilla served as an officer in the French army. He lost a leg in the Battle of Verdun. As director of the army's water department in Verdun, he developed a water chlorination process known as verdunisation, which was used in the trenches. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur and later raised to the rank of Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur. In 1937, he published De Panama à Verdun. Mes combats pour la France, which won him the Marcelin-Guérin prize awarded by the Académie française. He died in Paris on 18 May 1940.