How Far Back Can We Go? Sixth Edition! Ended At 1380 Waiting On 1379

1794 -- Kingdom of Great Britain, 1/2 penny token:

France 1794 (an 2)*, 5 decimes, Paris (A), 24.5 g.



The first French decimal coin, and that one year before the introduction of the franc. In 1793 it was decided to decimalize the livre by dividing it into 10 decimes and each decime into 10 centimes. That resulted in this single coin in the decimalized livre system - perhaps a bit of a test coin, although more than 150,000 were minted. In August 1795 the livre was replaced by the franc.

The somewhat peculiar motive is from the memorial ceremony held 10 Aug 1793, one year after the storming of the Tuileries Palace, the event that led to the fall of the (by then constitutional) monarchy. The ceremony, called the "Festival of Unity and Indivisibility," had representatives from the government (the Convention) and the departments around France. It was held at the site of the torned down Bastille (where the revolution started 14 July 1789). A statue of the goddess Isis had been erected there, with water springing from her bust. The water was drunk under ceremonial forms, symbolising the national regeneration.

As peaceful as it may seem, this coin was minted during the worst period of the French revolution, the Reign of Terror. Under the dictatorial leadership of Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, more than 16,000 death sentences were executed, before Robespierre himself was guillotined in July 1794.

* Although dated "year 2", which lasts 22 Sep 1793-21 Sep 1794, the minting of this coin is known to have begun in January 1794.

Finally one of my 1794 Large Cents, in this case, S-57

The Col. graded this one 7/4 (EAC)
Pictures are a bit rough




@erafjel great coin and great write-up. I need to get one of those coins now.

Amazing selection so far!

erafjel - love the French 5 decimes!

My contribution for the day is an English halfpenny token from the village of Appledore in Kent:


The Union Windmill was built by a group of farmers who formed an association ('union') and contributed towards its construction so that they could make and sell their own flour rather than pay another miller to grind their corn. Sadly, today all that remains of the mill is the octagonal brick base, which has been converted into a cottage:

1794 Middlesex Half Penny Token with high amounts of mint red still present.

Obverse
A three-quarter bust to left above date, with quatrefoil after legend.

Note: the 1 of date is just under the bottom button of coat

Lettering:
J . LACKINGTON.
1794

Reverse
A figure of Fame, blowing a trumpet, two concentric circular legends surround

Note: a dot at the end of inner legend instead of an annulet

Lettering:
HALFPENNY OF LACKINGTON . ALLEN & CO.
CHEAPEST BOOKSELLERS IN THE WORLD.

Edge
Incuse legend

Note: varieties exist

Lettering: PAYABLE AT THE TEMPLE OF THE MUSES * / * / * /

Lots of nice variety today. I love the Conders (my wife has a small collection), and the historical first decimal French coinage.
Today I'll start my contributions from the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth which existed from 1569 to 1795, and before that the Kingdom of Poland, which issued dated coins for most years from 1507-1568. So I will be a lot more active for the next 9 1/2 months than I was for the last 7 1/2 . I will try to provide a bit of historical context from time to time, like some other regular contributors here. I hope I wont embarrass myself in front of real Polish CCF members.
Stanislaus II Augustus was Poland's last king, and her first Polish king in 75 years (more on this in October), and coincidentally was a coin collector! From an historical viewpoint, he had the bad fortune of presiding over the three Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795) which ultimately resulted in the Polish state vanishing from Europe for 120 years, gobbled up by Prussia, Russia and Austria.
From a numismatic viewpoint, coins were issued every year of his reign (1764-95) with a wide and shifting range of minor denominations: in copper there were shillings, 1/2, 1, 3 and 6 groschen coins, and in silver 1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 groschen coins. Thalers from this reign are the most affordable of Polish thalers (still on my wish list).
Stanislaus made Warsaw the main Royal Mint for the first time, with Krakow assigned production of the copper types. But when the supply of copper from Spis (Slovakia) to Krakow was disrupted in 1768, all production was consolidated to Warsaw (the free cities of Gdansk/Danzig and Torun also minted for a few years in the 1760s). Following a major coinage reform early in his reign, the silver coins have the interesting characteristic of specifying on the reverse the silver content in relation to the Cologne mark (233 grams of silver). I don't yet have examples of each denomination, or from every year, but am working on it (something for my 2021 numismatic goals)
Poland 1794 6 groszy miedzianych ("copper" 6 groschen though containing about 22% silver, i.e. billon). This coin was issued during the uprising against Russian and Prussian rule after the second partition, led by Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a hero of the American war for independence.

tdziemia - That was a great write up and I can't wait to see and hear more from you over Poland. My knowledge is this country is mostly from the James Michener novel and several books I have read about Jewish history (Simon Sebag Montefiore and Simon Schama amongst others).

What I know is the horrible 3 partitions of Poland that happened in 1772, 1792 and 1795 and these were some story about how Stanislaus become one of Catherines Lovers and her voracious appetite for a larger empire. I also know a bot about the great empire of Poland Lithuania with Jagiello and Jadwiga and then later the reign of Jan Sobieski and his role in stopping the Turks sacking Vienna in 1683.

It was sad that Prussia, Russia and Austria divided up what was left of Poland at this time and now why Krakow has an Austrian vibe, and the Eastern part had its Jewish identity almost crushed by Russian imperialism and anti semitism.