Catalog
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| Issuer | Caisse Patriotique de Lyon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1793 |
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| In circulation to | 1793 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | N° 1137 SIEGE DE LYON. 1793, l'an 2 de la République Française. SUBVENTION CIVIQUE. Bon pour VINGT LIVRES A échanger par somme de 400 livres contre Assignats. |
| Reverse description | The reverse shows a faint mirror impression of the obverse text visible through the thin paper, indicating the note was printed on a single side only. A central vignette of what appears to be a cannon with foliage is faintly discernible, along with a handwritten signature in the lower right area, consistent with a countersignature applied to the back of the note. |
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| Comments |
The Caisse Patriotique de Lyon was a short-lived local emergency institution, one of dozens of provincial caisses that sprang up during the assignat crisis to address chronic small-denomination shortages. This 20 Livres note dates from one of the most turbulent moments in Lyon's history: the city rose against the Jacobin-controlled Convention in May 1793 and was besieged for over two months before falling in October. Republican forces under Kellermann and Doppet reduced much of the city, and the Convention briefly renamed it "Ville-Affranchie."
Notes issued by Lyonnais institutions during this period had essentially no future — the caisse was dissolved, and most surviving paper was either destroyed or rendered worthless almost immediately after the siege ended.