Post Your Coins And Medals Connected To The French Revolution

@Dearborn:

Long story short: The assignats were introduced by the French revolutionary government after the French revolution. They were originally issued as mortgage bonds, by which the government could realize the land and other assets confiscated from church and the Crown into money. French citizens could invest in a piece of church property, being given assignats in return (they were "assigned" part of the property). Pretty soon the assignats began to be used as money themselves, as they represented a monetary claim on the government, like modern banknotes. The government successively increased the assumed value of confiscated assets, to be able to issue more assignats and get more money (actual coins) from the public. That of course did not work in the long run, and eventually the assignats became more or less worthless.

There is a comprehensive Wikipedia article which also explains the background and history of the assignats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignat

Here is a page (in French) with all assignats: https://assignat.fr/

There are plenty of different assignats from the period 1790-1796, each with a range of different signatures, so one can build a large collection if one likes (I have two ).

France 1 Franc 1989 Estates-General
From Wiki: The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France.

Summoned by King Louis XVI, the Estates General of 1789 ended when the Third Estate, along with some members of the other Estates, formed the National Assembly and, against the wishes of the King, invited the other two estates to join. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Thank you, Errers!

Beautiful coin, Hondo Boguss!

Nice to see new activity on this thread.

Thanks for posting a great example of a late-stage assignat Erafjel.
A good book about assignats and their influence on daily life in France between 1789 and 1796 is Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution, by Rebecca L. Spang, published at Harvard University Press 2015.

One reaction to the dwindling confidence in the fiat paper (the assignats) was the production of Medailles de Confiance. On previous pages I posted some examples of "Monnerons". Here is a cinq sols "au Pacte Federatif" from 1792. It is a common variant that has the word "remboursable" on the reverse.



The obverse of this monneron is based on an earlier design of a medal engraved by Dupre, and adapted by engraver Jean-Noel Ponthon. The obverse shows the officers of the National Guard paying tribute to the cause of the Revolution of the festivity of the Pacte Federatif, exactly one year afther the storming of the Bastille. Below is a drawing of that celebration which took place on 14 July 1790 on the Champs de Mars in Paris.



The reverse shows the purpose of this medal: MEDAILLE DE CONFIANCE DE CINQ-SOLS REMBOURSABLE EN ASSIGNATS DE 50# ET AU DESSUS (medal of trust of 5 sol, exchangeble for an assignat with a face value of at least 50 livre. Buyers of these Monneron were eager to exchange their paper assignat of 50 livre (1000 sol) for a brass medal of 5 sol; a difference in face value of 200 ! This illustrates the degree of the lack of trust in the fiat currency.

The size of this brass "Monneron" (almost one ounce) is impressive. The most amazing fact about Monnerons is that they were produced by Matthew Boulton in Soho (near Birmingham; UK) In 1791/2 Boulton pioneered the mass production of large brass or copper pieces using his steam-energy powered mint. The much better known 1797 Cartwheel Penny (same size as the 5 sol Monneron) would follow 5 years after the French adventure of Boulton was over.

Nice reading of this subject: Richard Margolis: Matthew Boulton's French Ventures of 1791 and 1792: tokens for the Monneron frères of Paris and Isle-de-France. British Numismatic Journal 58: 11-23.

Nice addition, 1c5d7n5m.

Very nice!

France 1 Centime 1797