France: silver jeton of Louis XV, "Aurora in cloud chariot", undated (ca. 1740)

France: silver jeton of Louis XV, "Aurora in cloud chariot", undated (ca. 1740)





Obverse: LUD. XV. REX CHRISTIANISS, bust of Louis XV right.
Reverse: LATE.CVNCTA.PROFVNDIT., female deity or personification Aurora(?) in biga (two-horse chariot) galloping right through clouds, holding torch or candle.

Feuardent-13203, PCGS AU58, cert. #32657468. Ex-Atlas Numismatics, 10/13/2015.

These French jetons are often surprisingly inexpensive. One sees some spectacular ones from the 19th century, but I had to have this early 18th century example when I saw the toning and the reasonably modest price. Not too long ago, I briefly had another like it with the same Louis XV bust but a different reverse. They're roughly the size of a United States half-dollar. Big silver with nice toning and some history to it, already in PCGS plastic with a TrueView image? I couldn't resist it. Also, I later found out this is population 1 in all grades at PCGS as of late 2015, which is kind of neat, though not completely suprising.

As to the symbolism of the reverse, interpretations vary, but I would agree with those who say the personification is that of Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. One interpretation has it that here she represents Christianity bringing peace to the world, though I think of this more as a motif representing enlightenment in general. This was, of course, struck during the era commonly referred to as the Age of Enlightenment.

Miscellaneous links:
Larger image
PCGS cert verification page (with TrueView image link)
Secondary discussion about this piece (Collectors Universe US Coins forum)

Wikipedia links:
Jeton
Louis XV of France
Aurora (mythology)
Age of Enlightenment

When posted here, this coin had been recently sold from my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.

 

The template you see was made with the PCGS TrueView image. Phil Arnold at PCGS is a master. Granted, the TrueView is a "glamor shot", and the colors only "pop" at certain angles (compare with my shaky cellphone shots of the slab), but it definitely has the eye appeal. I paid less than $150 for it, too, so the "bang for the buck" factor on this one was very high. I made a decent profit when I sold it a few days ago.

Yep, sorry, Cathy, but as noted above, you're a few days too late. This thing lasted barely an hour on the CU Buy-Sell-Trade Forum before being snapped up like the proverbial "duck on a junebug". I knew it would sell fast.

Why, you ask, did I sell it? Well, I had newps to pay for. The sale of this one helped purchase another nice piece. This is the nature of the Box of 20 discipline. It gets harder and harder to turn loose of 'em once they start getting really nice, but the upside to that is, they often sell fast when you list 'em, and then you've got a boost on buying the next "upgrade", whatever that turns out to be.

I am also trying to bring the minimum value of everything in the box up above the $200-ish level, and that's pretty much accomplished. There are still a couple of pieces I paid less than $200 for in the box, but they should be worth more than $200.