France 1793-T sol

Stack's Bowers October 2025 Collectors Choice sale, lot 71165

This specimen was lot 71165 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, September 2025), where it sold for $3,120. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. National Convention. Bell Metal Sol, Year II/1793-T. Nantes Mint. PCGS MS-62. Rather unsurprisingly, this lofty, nearly-Choice specimen stands as the only such example of the type in the PCGS population report, and does so while being no doubt one of the finest that one could hope to encounter. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from John Facq at Grand Central Coin Convention in New York City on 6 November 1987 for $100 in trade)." This coin was minted at Nantes during the throes of the Revolution. 1793 was the year the king was tried and executed. Amid the chaos, large quantities of these copper sols were issued, along with half and two sols. The 1791-93 issues bear the bust of the king but his ouster forced the removal of his portrait. The obverse shows the tablet of the law with the motto, "LES HOMMES SONT EGAUX DEVANT LA LOI," (all men are equal before the law) and the reverse shows the balance scales of justice. This type was hurriedly and crudely made and is rarely found better than VG.

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: unknown; a better date.

Specification: bronze or brass, 12.23 g, 29 mm diameter.

Catalog reference: KM-619.11; Gad-19.

Sources:

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.
^[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 sol

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