France 1793-Pau 30 sols

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Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction, lot 71042
SB626-71042r.jpg

This specimen was lot 71042 in Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, June 2026), where it sold for $129. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Constitution. 30 Sols, Year 5/1793. Pau Mint; mm: Cow. Louis XVI. EXTREMELY FINE Details. Edge Damage. A SCARCER type, this specimen does exhibit some noted edge issues. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from Claude Silberstein in Paris on 25 May 1987 for $178.50)." The specimen shown is a 30 sols (equals 1/4 écu) of the Constitutional period (1791-93) during the French Revolution. It was struck at the Pau mint (cow mintmark) and is a rare 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" demi-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: 1,730, a rare date.

Specification: 9.98 g, 0.666 fine silver, 28mm diameter.

Catalog reference: KM-606.17; Gad-39.

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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