France 1791-A 30 sols

from the Mountain Groan Collection

from the Stack's Bowers 2024 ANA sale, lot 43062

The specimen shown is a thirty sols (equals 1/4 écu) of the Constitutional period (1791-93) during the French Revolution. It was struck at the Paris mint (mintmark "A") and is a common date of its type.

Altho the French Revolution famously began with the fall of the Bastille in June 1789, the upheaval was not immediately reflected in the coinage, which continued to be issued using the designs of the ancien régime. In 1791, the first "constitutional" coins appeared, including 3 deniers (= 1 liard), 6 deniers (= 2 liards), 12 deniers (= 1 sol), 2 sols, 15 sols (= 1/8 écu) and 30 sols. "Constitutional" half écus and écus appeared in 1792. Only then were the old royal designs discontinued. In 1793, the king was guillotined and a republic instituted. The republicans issued some brass sols and 2 sols and a silver écu de 6 livres before abandoning the system altogether in favor of the franc in 1795. The second specimen was lot 43062 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Chicago, August 2024), where it sold for $11,400. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"FRANCE. Constitution. Silver 30 Sols Essai (Pattern), Year 3/1791-A. Paris Mint. Louis XVI. PCGS SPECIMEN-62. Ornamented edge. By A. Dupré. VERY RARE and extremely enchanting, this wondrous minor pattern presents mostly soft gray surfaces that come alive through some light pastel iridescence. Meanwhile, a good deal of lustrous brilliance further captivates along with a well executed strike. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from the Farouk Collection in March 1954). Ex: Palace Collections of Egypt [King Farouk] (Sotheby's - 3/1954) Lot # 2173 (part of). Ex: Virgil M. Brand Collection (as "Ferrari-Brand," Schulman - ca. 1932) Lot # 2881. Ex: Baron Phillipe de Ferrari la Renotière Collection."

Recorded mintage: 1,124,698.

Specification: 10 g, 0.666 fine silver, .214 troy oz ASW. The second specimen is 10.07 g.

Catalog reference: KM 606.1, Gad-39. The second specimen is Maz-94 (R3).

Source:

Ciani, Louis, Les Monnaies Royales Françaises de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI, avec indication de leur valuer actuelle, Paris, 1926 (reprinted in Barcelona, 1965).
Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
Guilloteau, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, Colonies 1670-1942 et Metropole 1774-1942, Versailles, 1942.
Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
^[1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2024 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Emilio M. Ortiz Collection, The Richard Margolis Collection and The Rutherford Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.

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France 1791-A 30 sols

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