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1/2 Fanon Pondichery
| Issuer | French East India Company (Compagnie des Indes) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1723 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 20 mm |
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| Obverse description | A large royal crown occupies the central field, rendered in low relief with a decorative band ornamented by a row of pellets and alternating round and square bosses. Three fleurons surmount the crown, the central one being the most prominent. The design is enclosed by a beaded border running along the coin's periphery. The strike, typical of hammered coinage of the period, is irregular and somewhat flat in areas. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Ten small fleurs-de-lis arranged in a scattered pattern across the entire field, displayed in three roughly horizontal rows filling the coin's surface. The fleurs-de-lis, emblematic of the French monarchy and the Compagnie des Indes, are rendered in low relief. A beaded border encircles the design. No legend or inscription is present. The irregular flan and hammered technique are characteristic of this colonial issue. |
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| Additional information |
The Compagnie des Indes received its consolidated royal charter in 1719 under John Law's sweeping reorganization of French colonial finance — the same speculative apparatus that collapsed catastrophically in 1720. The Pondicherry mint continued operating through the aftermath, producing fractional copper coinage for local commerce at a time when the Company's metropolitan finances were in ruins. These bronze fanon fractions circulated primarily among small traders and artisans in the French Tamil settlements, where European silver was too valuable for everyday transactions.
The fanon itself was a unit borrowed from indigenous South Indian monetary practice, not a French invention imposed on the colony.