France 1793-T ecu

Stack's Bowers October 2025 Collectors Choice sale, lot 71049

This specimen was lot 71049 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, September 2025), where it sold for $3,840. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. Constitution. Ecu, 1793-T/Year 5. Nantes Mint. Louis XVI. PCGS EF-40. A VERY RARE date, this KEY does display some fairly even handling, but also offers a pale golden-gray hue and immense originality. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from Serge Boutin in Paris on 16 March 1966 for $55)." This specimen is a "constitutional écu" struck at the Nantes mint, one of a type struck there 1792-93, prior to the trial and execution of the king. Its divisions were the ½, 1/4 and 1/8 écu, struck in billon. The écu was worth $1.10 in the USA before the Civil War. The 1792-A and 1793-A are the most available dates of this scarce type.

Recorded mintage: unknown, a very rare date.

Specification: 29.48 g, 0.917 fine silver, 39 mm diameter, lettered edge.

Catalog reference: Dav-1335; KM-615.13; Gad-55.

Sources:

Davenport, John S., European Crowns, 1700-1800, 2nd Ed., London: Spink & Son, 1964.
Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
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.
George Sobin, Jr., The Silver Crowns of France, 1640-1973. Teaneck, NJ: Richard Margolis, 1974.
^[1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, September 2025 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, including Selections from the Richard Margolis Collection and Selections from the L.E. Bruun Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.

Link to:

France 1793-T ecu

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