France 1793-W 12 deniers

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Stack's Bowers October 2020 Collectors Choice sale, lot 71433
SB1020-71433r.jpg

This specimen was lot 71433 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, October 2020), where it sold for $192. The catalog description[2] noted, "FRANCE. National Convention. 12 Deniers (Sol), 1793-W. Lille Mint. Louis XVI (in name only). NGC MS-62. Quite weakly struck as is entirely common with the type, this piece emanates from the final year of the tenuous reign of Louis XVI, the king who would be executed in the opening month of 1793." This twelve deniers, struck during the early stages of the French Revolution, before the arrest and trial of the king, was meant to supersede the sol of the ancien régime. It was struck at sixteen different mints and is very common in low grade. Many of these were produced by subcontractors outside the regular mint system; this specimen was struck at Lille. This specimen is definitely brass. Arras also struck this type in 1793 using the "W·" mintmark (note the dot).

The provisional mints of the Revolution.[1] Responding to an acute coin shortage caused by the collapse of the assignats, the National Assembly late in 1791 authorized the establishment of temporary mints to supplement the output of base metal coinage by the regular mints. These provisional mints were to be close to existing mints and supervised by mint personnel. These requirements were ignored. The following mints are known to have produced three, six and twelve denier pieces and two sols: Convent des Barnabites (in Paris, but outside the Mint), mintmark "A" with a dot; Arras, mintmark "W" with a dot; Besancon, mintmark "BB"; Clermont-Ferrand, mintmark "I" with a dot; Dijon, mintmark "D" with a dot; Metz (adjacent to the regular mint), mintmark "AA" with a dot; Roanne, mintmark "D"; and Saumur, mintmark "T" with a dot. Most of these mints were closed by the end of 1792 tho some may have operated into 1793.

Recorded mintage: unknown but a common date.

Specification: 12.23 g, copper, bronze or brass.

Catalog reference: KM-600.16; Gad-15.

Source:

  • Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
  • Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
  • [1]Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
  • [2]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The October 2020 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.

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