Copper 5
sols issued by the
Monneron Brothers
France, AD 1792
A coin of the French
Revolution
The French Revolution of 1789-1792 was a
turning point in European history. It symbolized the change from a
Europe dominated by old attitudes and power structures to one with
greater political equality. The French monarchy had held vast
powers through absolutist rule which ended when resistance within
the population turned into
revolution.
One of the
factors which led to the Revolution was the financial deficit of
the French state: a significant difference between the
country's expenses and its revenues. This shortage of money
contributed to the downfall of the monarchy, while the recent
invention of paper money allowed the Revolutionary government to
finance its activities despite the coin
shortage.
Alongside the
official paper notes of the Revolutionary government (known as
assignats) private
companies began to issue copper tokens. On this 5
sol piece, issued by a
Parisian merchant bank, the legend states that it is exchangeable
for paper assignats. On
the other side we see French soldiers swearing allegiance to the
new Republic and the legend VIVRE LIBRES OU MOURIR ('Live
in Freedom, or Die').
J. Cribb, B. Cook and I. Carradice, The coin atlas (London and Sydney, Macdonald Illustrated, 1990)