Pondicherry (1721-23) fanon
This specimen was lot 667 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $510. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRENCH INDIA: PONDICHÉRY: AE fanon (2 sols), Pondicherry, ND (1721-23), crown // 9 fleurs-de-lis, environmental damage, PCGS graded XF details. Struck at Pondicherry for use on the Iles de France et Bourbon on the islands of Maurice (Mauritius) & Réunion in the Indian Ocean." The French established a number of trading stations on the coast of India in the seventeenth century and made a serious challenge to British claims of supremacy in the eighteenth century. After a close run campaign fought during the Seven Years War, British command of the sea told and the French were defeated. Their zone of control was reduced to the trading stations they had long held, including Pondichery, where this specimen was struck.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: copper, this specimen 9.31 g.
Catalog reference: KM-42, Lec-4.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 50, featuring selections from the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection, the Hakim Hamidi Collection, the Almer H. Orr III Collection and the Solar Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
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