I've had this coin since high school and had thought that it was a government issue piece, however, it doesn't have the fleur de lis I would normally associate with a French coin. My feeling is that it may be from the early 1790's prior to Louis' beheading when France briefly had a constitutional monarchy. It could be a token or an issue by a local government entity. The flan appears to be brass with a fairly thin silver wash. I was in a hurry to get out the door this morning and didn't have a chance to weigh it, but it does measure between 25.5 - 26 mm. Any information or a link to a good website will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
I looked in all my Krause catalogs. did not see this 1. interesting piece for sure. not to insult you, but do you know for sure it is real ?
Spirityoda, No insult taken, a very valid question. It feels real in the hand, but it is out of my area of knowledge. I also ran the Latin inscription through google translate (not the best system in the world) and found that the obverse says "LOUIS XVI KING OF FRANCE DEAD" and the first two words of the reverse says "LOVES GOLD". I would assume it is a post mortem issue.
I checked every listing for Louis XVI in the Mitchiner reference for Jetons, and there is nothing. The Biographical Dictionary of Medallists by Forrer lists three jetons produced by the Lauer family - one in 1790, one in 1791 and one in 1793 upon the death of Louis XVI. The images you posted are very crude, so I'm guessing that they are fake. Chris
Chris, thanks for the reference. I looked up the Lauer medalist family and found a Dec. 1905 Spinks publication referencing their work. I'm leaning towards a forgery or copy based on the poor alignment of letters. However, the question remains, was it used for money? It doesn't look like a medal, it resembles a coin. thanks
This site attributes this type of jeton as circa 1793 and made in Germany as commemoratives of the death of Louis XVI. http://maxentius.lamoneta.it/PagineMedaglie/MorteLuigiXVI_Giustizia.htm
The use of jetons dates back to about the 11th century in Italy. Merchants used them as counting aids for customer purchases much like the Chinese used the abacus. Their popularity soon spread to other European merchants. Eventually, jetons were used for scoring in table games. Jetons were usually produced by private mints for townships and other jurisdictions but not by any country. Jetons are known to be smaller than 38mm, and they did not have any monetary value. Chris
Question already answered, but with no date and no value shown it's most certainly not a government issued coin.
