Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
200 Livres Assignat
| Issuer | Caisse de l'Extraordinaire, France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1791-1792 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Livre tournois (987-1795) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Assignat de la création des 19 Juin et 12 Septembre 1791 DOMAINES NATIONAUX Hypothéqués au remboursement des assignats par le décret de l'Assemblée Nationale des 16 et 17 Avril 1790, sanctionné par LE ROI. ASSIGNAT DE DEUX CENTS liv. Il sera payé au Porteur la somme de deux cents livres à la Caisse de l'Extraordinaire, conformément aux décrets des 16 et 17 Avril, 29 Septembre 1790, 19 Juin et 12 Septembre 1791 DEUX CENTS 200 GATTEAUX LA LOI ET LE ROI DEUX CENTS LIVRES |
| Reverse description | The reverse shows a blind impression of the obverse design as a result of the letterpress printing process, with the text and vignette of the face visible in mirror image through the thin paper stock. No independent design elements or lettering are present on this side. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The 200 livres denomination sits at an awkward moment in the assignat's short history. Authorized by the law of 19 June 1791, it fell between the large ecclesiastical-property-backed issues of 1790 and the inflationary flood of smaller denominations that followed. The Caisse de l'Extraordinaire — a short-lived institution created specifically to administer confiscated biens nationaux — issued these notes as the revolutionary government scrambled to convert seized Church land into liquid currency fast enough to service its debts.
Gatteaux and Lorthior were responsible for the engraving, and the technical complexity of their work was deliberately chosen as a counterfeiting deterrent. It failed. Forgery of assignats, particularly the higher denominations, was rampant by 1792 — some operations running with royalist backing from abroad.