2 Decimes pattern by Lorthior in billon

This is an essai struck during the chaotic monetary reorganization that followed the Revolution, when France was attempting to rationalize its coinage under the Directory and then Consulate. Lorthior was among several engravers and entrepreneurs who submitted competing pattern proposals during this period — few were adopted, and most survive in very small numbers. The billon composition itself reflects the transitional moment: the new decimal system demanded copper for subsidiary coinage, but old habits and available metal dies kept billon in play through the final years of the 1790s.