Pondicherry (1723) 1/2 fanon
This specimen was lot 54119 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2024), where it sold for $576. The catalog description[1] noted, "INDIA. French India. Pondicherry. 1/2 Fanon, ND (1723). Pondicherry Mint. NGC AU-53. Incredible quality for this colonial type, the present example yields a well centered and well executed strike paired with pleasing surface quality and an enticing even brown hue." 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. The SCWC lists several different half fanons for this locale in the eighteenth century and this is distinctive for its ten fleur-de-lis on the reverse.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: bronze, 19-20 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-36; Lec-1.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [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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