France 1816-W franc
This specimen was lot 56189 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2024), where it sold for $780. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Franc, 1816-W. Lille Mint. Louis XVIII. NGC MS-63." This issue, from the Lille mint, is the first date of a type struck 1816-24. All francs of Louis XVIII are of this type which, despite nine years of production from nine mints, is not common. It was demonetized in 1869. A complete set of this type comprises 66 date and mintmark combinations, many very rare. The entire production run, 1816-24, totaled about 4.3 million pieces. The production of five franc pieces in the same period was 104 million. This date is priced about double the 1817-A.
Recorded mintage: 14,750[2].
Specification: 23 mm diameter, 5 grams, 0.900 fine silver, edge lettered DOMINE SALVUM FAC REGEM. Designed by Auguste-François Michaut, 1786-1879.
Catalog reference: F.206/8, KM-709.12; Gad-449.
- Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
- [2]Prieur, Michel, and Laurent Schmitt, Le Franc 10: Les Monnaies. Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 2014.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, January 2024 NYINC Auction, featuring the Emilio M Ortiz Collection and a Symphony of Russian Rarities, the Rothschild-Piatigorsky Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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