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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 8173156, member: 128351&quot;][ATTACH=full]1428025[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Louis XVI, 30 sols, AR 30 mm, 9.79 g. 1791, A = Paris. Gadoury 39.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another coin I found in an old box full of late 19th and early 20th c. small change. It belonged to some of my wife&#039;s great-grandparents and these coins were probably discarded in an attic because they were no longer accepted. This 30 sols silver coin is so worn we can see it circulated a very long time. </p><p><br /></p><p>It still belongs to the old French monetary system with Livre (Tournois), Sou or Sol, and Denier. In 1791 a Livre (or Franc) = 15 sols. The system was reformed in 1795 to adopt Franc and Centimes, but new silver Franc coins were not introduced before the Franc Germinal (law of the 7 Germinal an XI = 28 March 1803). From this year on, the Franc was a coin of 5.00 g of silver and remained so until 1920. The 2 Francs coin was a 27 mm silver coin of 10.00 g in theory, though of course worn specimens are only 9.7 to 9.8 g. Even if it was a little larger, this Louis XVI coin of 1791 could be accepted for a 2 Francs coin during the whole 19th c. and even the early 20th c.! </p><p><br /></p><p>This is probably why these 30 sols can be found in very worn condition like this one, for many specimens circulated during more than a century. This is not the case with larger écus de 6 livres like your coin, I have never seen a much worn specimen. From 1803 to 1920 the equivalent large silver coin was the 5 Francs, AR 37 mm, 25.00 g in theory. The old ecu had roughly the same diameter but was 4.5 g too heavy, so it fell victim of the decimal system... I suppose these écus were taken out of circulation and melted to mint Francs.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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