Here’s a recent purchase – a 15 Sols banknote from revolutionary France dated January 1792
It’s surprising that you can buy fragments from history so easily and for such a low price.This note measuring approx 8 x 7 cm exisisted before the rise of Napoleon and at a time when the guillotine ruled the country.These notes were known as Assignats – paper money issued by the National Assembly in France from 1789 to 1796.Assignats were issued after the confiscation of church properties in 1790 – accepted as legitimate payment by domestic and international creditors. Certain precautions not taken concerning their excessive reissue and comingling with general currency in circulation caused hyperinflation.The inflation was finally solved by Napoleon in 1803 by introducing the franc as the new currency. By this time, the assignats were basically worthless.
