French Revolution 5 Sols Proof-like

August 2025

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France, during the Revolution. Struck at the Soho operation of Matthew Boulton and James Watt on steam driven presses. Essai Proof 5 Sols, 1792. Mazard No.150; KM-Tn28. Bronze, known as the 4th Type with medal rotation. Token issue. Monneron Freres, Paris. Rare in bronzed proof-like. NGC MS64 Brown. The obverse is of the typical Oath of Allegiance design by Dupre, "Live Free Or Die" appears to be of the large variety. The reverse shows the outer legend of "REVOLUTION FRANCAISE 1792" while the central legend is "MEDAILLE QUI SE VEND CINQ-SOLS A PARIS CHEZ MONNERON |PATENTE| (with accent over the 'E"). That translates as 'MEDAL SELLING FOR FIVE SOLS
IN PARIS AT MONNERON (PATENTED). The edge is different too with "LA. CONFIANCE. AUGMENTE. LA. VALEUR. Ooooo" (TRUST INCREASES VALUE)

I did a sampling survey of all the 5 Soles appearing in the records of ACSearch data archives. I examined 289 examples. Only 4 had Roman numeral dates. There were 3 examples in silver, one was clearly a plated silver type; there were 2 gilt (gold) plated examples. I did a similar survey for the top 3 or 4 French coin dealers, but w/o a number sampling - none had a Roman numeral Type I.

VIEW & DOWNLOAD:
Here is the link to the BEST article on Matthew Boulton, the Industrialization of Coinage, and the Monneron Brother's wonderful token coinage during the French Revolution:
Boulton and the Monnerons - Margolis: [ link ]