France 1793-Pau 12 deniers

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Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction, lot 71075
SB626-71075r.jpg

This specimen was lot 71075 in Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, June 2026), where it sold for $69. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Constitution. 12 Deniers, Year 5/1793. Pau Mint; mm: Cow. Louis XVI. PCGS FINE-15. A well used example of a type issued from a SCARCER mint identified by its bovine mintmark. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from Gadoury in 1976 for $15). Ex: Victor Gadoury 5 (10/1976) Lot # 329." 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. The Pau mint also struck a few sols aux balances in 1794; these have only the revolutionary calendar date.

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: unknown but a scarce date.

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

Catalog reference: KM-600.17; 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.

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