France 1792-I 30 sols

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Stack's Bowers 2025 ANA sale, lot 43107
SB825-43107r.jpg

This specimen was lot 43107 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Oklahoma City, OK, August 2025), where it sold for $720. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Constitution. 30 Sols, Year 4/1792-I. Limoges Mint. Louis XVI. PCGS MS-62. Struck upon a somewhat irregular planchet, this nearly-Choice stunner provides elegant iridescent toning and a pleasing gunmetal gray aspect to serve as the backdrop. The finer of just two observed in the PCGS census, and the only to achieve Mint State status. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from A. H. Baldwin's in London on 16 March 1968 for $12)." 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.

Recorded mintage: unknown but a common date.

Specification: 10 g, 0.666 fine silver, 28-29.5 mm diameter.

Catalog reference: KM-606.7; Gad-39.

Sources:

  • Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
  • 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 2025 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Richard August Collection and the Richard Margolis Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.

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