France 1793-M 12 deniers

Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction, part of lot 71306

This specimen was part of lot 71306 in Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, June 2026), which sold for $195.20. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. Constitution. Group of 12 Deniers (11 Pieces), Year 5/1793. Louis XVI. Average Grade: FINE. A charming array of mints for the year with little duplication. Close inspection is greatly encouraged. SOLD AS IS/NO RETURNS. From the Richard Margolis Collection." This twelve deniers, struck during the early stages of the French Revolution, before the arrest and trial of the king, was meant to supersede the sol of the ancien régime. It was struck at sixteen different mints and is very common in low grade. Many of these were produced by subcontractors outside the regular mint system, altho this one was struck at Toulouse, a permanent mint.

The provisional mints of the Revolution.^[2] Responding to an acute coin shortage caused by the collapse of the assignats, the National Assembly late in 1791 authorized the establishment of temporary mints to supplement the output of base metal coinage by the regular mints. These provisional mints were to be close to existing mints and supervised by mint personnel. These requirements were ignored. The following mints are known to have produced three, six and twelve denier pieces and two sols: Convent des Barnabites (in Paris, but outside the Mint), mintmark "A" with a dot; Arras, mintmark "W" with a dot; Besançon, mintmark "BB"; Clermont-Ferrand, mintmark "I" with a dot; Dijon, mintmark "D" with a dot; Metz (adjacent to the regular mint), mintmark "AA" with a dot; Roanne, mintmark "D"; and Saumur, mintmark "T" with a dot. Most of these mints were closed by the end of 1792 tho some may have operated into 1793.

Recorded mintage: 79,080, a scarce date.

Specification: 12.23 g, copper or brass, 29 mm diameter.

Catalog reference: KM-600.10; Gad-15.

Source:

Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
^[2]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, June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction - Selections from the L.E. Bruun Collection, the Richard Margolis Collection and the Kirk Menczer Collection of Republican Reales Minors, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2026.

Link to:

France 1793-M 12 deniers

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