FRANCE - CONVENTION - GOLD 24 LIVRES AU GÉNIE 1793 LILLE - PCGS MS62

National Convention (1792-1795), 24 livres au génie, 1793, struck at Lille.

Obverse: legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇOISE, denomination 24 LIVRES above a line, within an oak wreath, L’AN II in exergue between the privy marks. Reverse: the winged Genius standing right, engraving the word CONSTITUTION on a tablet set on an altar, between a lictor’s fasces topped by a Phrygian cap and a cockerel, Dupré’s signature on the base. Legend REGNE DE LA LOI, date 1793 in exergue. Mint letter W (Lille).

Broad flan and well-centred strike, showing only minute handling marks and attractive golden toning. Mint State.

Note: after the fall of the monarchy, the Convention kept the Genius engraved by Augustin Dupré for the last constitutional coins of Louis XVI. It only replaced the royal effigy with the denomination in an oak wreath and the legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇOISE. Struck to the weight of the old louis d’or, this 24 livres is a one-year type, issued in 1793 at only five mints: Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon, Montpellier and Lille. Lille struck just 3,234 examples. Dupré’s Genius would return under the Third Republic on the gold 20, 50 and 100 francs.