Martinique charged them on ships going to France, and Guadeloupe stored these coins, only to counterstamp and use them during the Revolution (1793). They were better received in the thirteen British North American colonies…and subsequently in the Indian Ocean French colonies! Finally, the “Colonies françoises” copper coins from 1767, despite their vague legend, were only intended for Lesser West Indies and immediately refused. Only Louisiana welcomed them before finally returning some to France a few years later. Canada accepted a few of them, though with distrust. 5): denominations of 4½ and 18 deniers were imagined, as well as produced in Bordeaux and La Rochelle. The 9-denier “Colonies françoises” coins, minted in La Rochelle and Rouen in 1721–1722, are one part of a larger program (Fig. A few were shipped to the continent, in New France. The 6- and 12-denier coins for the “colonies” were not made for a long time in Perpignan (1717), due to insufficient material and poor-quality metal. Three other creations are related to copper small change-and they were hardly successful. ( ANS 1973.178.5, Actually classified to the French West Indies, especially St. 12-sol “Isles du Vent,” 1732, La Rochelle, created for Lesser French West Indies This, however, was an exceptional case, not a recurring one.įigure 4. Nevertheless, in case of necessity and for certain expenses, such as the pay of officers and the Navy, France could send its own money, such as in the famous case of the Chameau‘s treasure, which sank off Cape Breton in 1725. In fact, numismatists should know that all the coins produced and circulating in the Kingdom were, at some time or other, represented in the colonies-and even without being authorized by the king to do so! Of course, the authorities preferred to use “American” coins,” i.e., issued from the Latin continent, such as Spanish silver piasters and Portuguese gold moëdes, recovered in abundance through trade. We are, for example, preparing an article about the sols with ANS curator Jesse C. It is because of this type of misinterpretation that we are making a general clarification on this subject. ![]() ( ANS 1967.99.21, where it was classified as Canadian until recently) “Sol marqué”, 1740, Rouen, created for the French Kingdom Although some of these coins had effectively circulated in this area, we are today sure due to the recent discovery of unpublished French documents, that they were created specifically for the French West Indies (Jambu 2021).įigure 2. 1), struck in 1670, to “New France” (and particularly to Canada) because of an error of attribution by Le Blanc in 1690, always repeated without being interrogated. First, for more than 300 years, French, Canadian, and American numismatists gave the 5- and 15-sol “Gloriam Regni” coins (Fig. Martin began (Martin 2015) one hundred years after Ernest Zay (Zay 1892).Ī couple of examples can illustrate this problem. ![]() However, the cross-referencing of available data is necessary to understand these coins and reclassify them, as Sydney F. There are two reasons for this: the difficult access of Americans to archives written in French, scattered throughout the country and the little interest shown by the French people, a large part of whom have forgotten their history in the New World. It is equally difficult to name these coins, to determine their value, and to attribute them to a specific place. The author wishes to thank ANS curator Jesse Kraft for assistance in editing the English.Īs American numismatists and collectors of the colonial period know, it is difficult to differentiate coins of the Kingdom of France sent to America from those produced specifically for this region. Professor of Modern History, University of Lille (IRHiS, UMR CNRS 8529) former curator, National Library of France. Newman Graduate Summer Seminar in Numismatics. By Jérôme Jambu, Visiting Professor, Eric P.
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