France 1791-MA 15 sols

Jean Elsen sale 121, lot 1175

This specimen was lot 1175 in Jean Elsen sale 121 (Brussels, June 2014), where it sold for €1,200 (about US$1,922 including buyers' fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"FRANCE, Constitution (1791-1792), AR 15 sols, 1791 MA, an 3, Marseille. Type FRANCAIS. Droit: Tête nue à gauche, les cheveux noués par un ruban. Revers: Génie inscrivant la constitution sur une table. Très rare dans cette qualité. Superbe à Fleur de Coin. (kingdom of France, constitutional period (1791-92), silver fifteen sols of 1791, Marseille mint, FRANCAIS legend. Obverse: bare head to left, hair tied in a ribbon. Reverse: the Genius of France inscribing the constitution on a pedestal. Very rare in this quality, extremely fine to uncirculated.)"

This specimen is a billon fifteen sols struck at the Marseille mint in 1791. Its face value was one-eighth of an écu altho it probably traded for less, being debased. The type was struck 1791-93 and is known from Limoges, Metz, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Paris, Lille, Nantes and other mints.

Recorded mintage: 59,170 (a better date).

Specification: 5 g, .666 fine silver, 23 mm diameter, this specimen 5,09 g.

Catalog reference: Dupl., 1721; Gad-35.

Source:

Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2011, 20me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2011.
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]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 121, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2014.

Link to:

France 1791-MA 15 sols

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