KOTCT
Worldwide Coins & Bank Notes => World Bank Notes => Topic started by: CoinCrusader42 on December 12, 2009, 08:53:05 AM
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I have only been to three coin shows in my life, including the ANA show in Denver a few summers ago.
At the most recent show in my area I bought a banknote which I was told was printed at the time of the French Revolution. I am skeptical as the price was only $1.50.
The back side is blank. The front includes a signature and the wording "Domaines nationaux Assignat de quinze sols." In the upper left corner is "Loidu Janvier 1792."
It would appear it was printed at the time of the French Revolution, but seemed like a pretty inexpensive price to me.
Any opinions?
:) :) :) :)
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Gary, how about a picture? You've probably got a French Assignat note, which, depending on condition and rarity, are relatively inexpensive in lower grades. I have a few myself. How about a denomination? Maybe we can identify it that way?
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Does it look something like this?
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Here is another.
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Thanks,
Mine is fairly similar to the last one you posted. I assume that's the denomination down at the bottom. Mine says "15."
:) :) :) :)
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Isn't amazing to buy 200+ year old money for $1.50?
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French revolutionary assignats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignat) were backed by the value of lands confiscated from the old state-sponsored church. However, there was only so much land to be confiscated, and the land itself quickly fell in price because nobody could afford to buy it. But the printing presses kept running; assignats were one of the earliest examples of what we now call "hyperinflation" - when inflation gets so out of control, the printers can barely keep up with the increasing face values and new note issues required. A situation very similar happened in the US with the Continental Dollar, except in France, it was even worse.
The "sol" (in French Canada, it was called the "sou") was a secondary money of account in France, immediately prior to the revolution. There were 12 deniers to a sol and 26 sols to a livre. A 1 sol coin was copper or brass, and worth about the equivalent of a US cent or British halfpenny. By January 1792, the date on your note, the inflation was well and truly underway, though not quite in the "hyper" phase. So a "15 sols" assignat wouldn't have had a very high face value to start with; it would have quickly become worthless as the hyperinflation progressed.