MDC Monnaies de Collection
1726
-
FRANCE - FRANCE
See original version (French)
1726
-
FRANCE - FRANCE
See original version (French)
Estimate €350
Voluntary lot
Description
FRANCE - FRANCE
Consulate (1799–1804). Attempt to improve the coins by Gengembre, bearing the effigy of Lavoisier, Special Strike (SP) Year 8 (1800), Paris.
Obv. ANT. LAUR. LAVOISIER. Bare head of Lavoisier facing right, signature ANDRIEU. F. on the nape of the neck.
Rev. REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE and a lightning bolt on the scroll. In the centre, in six lines: L'AN 8/ PH. GENGEMBRE/ WAS TRYING TO/ PERFECT/ THE/ COINS.
Maz.614 v. – VG.836 v.; Silver-plated bronze – 25 mm – 6 h
Top Pop: this is the finest graded specimen! From the Richard Margolis collection, Stack’s Bowers auction, September 2025, lot 71257, and previously from Hess-Divo auction 308, October 2007, lot 310 (“billon”).
PCGS SP62BN (50797927).
Special Strike (SP) in silver-plated bronze, with the edge inscribed in intaglio: *A LA PATRIE* AUX SCIENCES. With a ‘silvery’ or ‘shiny’ appearance and described as a billon by Hess-Divo in 2007. Beautifully crafted by Gengembre. Superb in mint condition.
Philippe Gengembre, an engineer and scholar, attended the École du génie maritime before being noticed by Antoine Lavoisier, who, when Gengembre was 19, secured him a position at the Régie des poudres et salpêtre. Through his experiments, he paid tribute to his first mentor, of whom he said: “At the age of thirteen, I was taken into the household of the famous and ill-fated Lavoisier, who served as a father to me for six years, teaching me chemistry and helping me to master higher mathematics and physics”. On his return from a trip to America, he was recruited in 1795 by the Mint Administration, where he developed new machines and processes, inspired by and/or modelled on those of Droz. He was then appointed Inspector-General of the Mint by Bonaparte and worked under the Empire at the mints in Kassel and Dresden [See Philippe Gengembre, Inspector-General of the Mint under the Empire, Director of the Royal Manufactory of Naval Machinery at Indret, Nantes, by Gildas Salaün and the Indret Historical Centre, available online]
* Pursuant to Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 of 5 April 2022, which comes into force in national law on 1 January 2025, buyers from within the EU must pay 5.5% VAT on the hammer price of this lot.
* Pursuant to Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 of 5 April 2022, which comes into force in national law on 1 January 2025, successful bidders from within the EU must also pay 5.5% VAT on this lot
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like