thanks
erafjel and
jbuck ! we may encounter some more military events later on, but first I want to show a second example of a Monneron 5 sols type
Hercule
because it is of interest to pay attention to the edge inscription (which was not common practice in 1792) of the Hercule 5 sols:
LA CONFIANCE AUGMENTE LA VALEUR
Quite true for any type of fiat currency: it works as long as confidence prevails. Or to turn it around for the assignats that were issued during the early years of the Revolution: as soon as confidence disappears, value decreases. Unfortunately for the Monneron brothers, this is exactly what happened to the assignats, leading to the downfall of their own business.
This type of deep edge inscription on a large copper coin was no piece of cake and became only possible because of profound technical innovations at the end of the 18th century. Production of such type of coin needed the crossing of the paths of
James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine,
Matthew Boulton the mint master in Birmingham, and the
Monneron brothers who had a dream of changing the financial system in France.
Richard Margolis (1988) Matthew Boulton's French ventures of 1791 and 1792: tokens for the Monneron frères of Paris and Isle-de-France, see
https://www.britnumsoc.org/publicat...NJ_58_11.pdf
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Posted 07/30/2019 5:09 pm
