Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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Broadside Promulgating the 1791 Coinage Reforms
[France]. LOI RELATIVE AUX NOUVELLES EMPREINTES DES MONNOIES. Donnée à Paris, le 15 Avril 1791. A Rennes de l'Imprimerie, de J. Robiquet, Imprimeur du Départment de l'Isle et Vilaine, 1791. Printed broadside [45 by 36 cm] mounted in a modern black wooden frame [53 by 43 cm]. Visible adhesive residue has bled through from the back at the top margins. Folds, some browning. A rare broadside printing of this French coinage law, of considerable historical importance. The redesign of 1791 was the first to break with centuries of royal tradition. Even while the king remained (for the time being) on the coins, the stipulated design included many Republican attributes: "Le revers de la monnoie d'or, des écus et demi-écus, aura pour empreinte le génie de la France debout devant un autel, et gravant sur des tables le mot Constitution, avec le sceptre de la raison, désigné par un oeil ouvert à son extrémité. Il y aura à côté de l'autel un coq, symbole de la vigilance, et un faisceau , emblême de l'union et de la force armée." The coins were also to depict the "bonnet de la liberté" and give the year both in Arabic numerals and expressed in "l'année de la liberté." A rare and wonderful item.
[France]. LOI RELATIVE AUX NOUVELLES EMPREINTES DES MONNOIES. Donnée à Paris, le 15 Avril 1791. A Rennes de l'Imprimerie, de J. Robiquet, Imprimeur du Départment de l'Isle et Vilaine, 1791. Printed broadside [45 by 36 cm] mounted in a modern black wooden frame [53 by 43 cm]. Visible adhesive residue has bled through from the back at the top margins. Folds, some browning. A rare broadside printing of this French coinage law, of considerable historical importance. The redesign of 1791 was the first to break with centuries of royal tradition. Even while the king remained (for the time being) on the coins, the stipulated design included many Republican attributes: "Le revers de la monnoie d'or, des écus et demi-écus, aura pour empreinte le génie de la France debout devant un autel, et gravant sur des tables le mot Constitution, avec le sceptre de la raison, désigné par un oeil ouvert à son extrémité. Il y aura à côté de l'autel un coq, symbole de la vigilance, et un faisceau , emblême de l'union et de la force armée." The coins were also to depict the "bonnet de la liberté" and give the year both in Arabic numerals and expressed in "l'année de la liberté." A rare and wonderful item.