1/2 Sol - Louis XV 3rd portrait

The demi-sol issued under Louis XV in this final portrait series falls within the chaotic last decade of his reign — a period defined less by monetary policy than by the political fallout from the expulsion of the Jesuits and the dissolution of the parlements under Chancellor Maupeou in 1771. Small copper coinage of this type circulated almost exclusively among the laboring poor, and contemporary accounts suggest chronic shortages of petite monnaie in provincial markets throughout the early 1770s. The Paris mint struggled to keep pace with demand while simultaneously managing silver recoinage obligations.