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25 Livres Assignat
| Issuer | Assemblée nationale (France) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1792 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Livre tournois (987-1795) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The face is composed within an ornate typographic border with small vignettes at the corners and sides. At upper left, an oval medallion contains a classical allegorical figure seated at a writing desk; at upper right, a portrait bust of Louis XVI faces left within an oval frame inscribed with his title. The denomination XXV appears in a central panel at the top between the date law and the year of the Republic. The main text, set in letterpress, reads 'Domaines nationaux. Assignat de vingt-cinq livres, payable au porteur,' with a manuscript-style signature below. At the bottom centre, a diamond-shaped guilloche vignette encloses the numeral 25, flanked by the legal warnings against counterfeiting and the promise of reward to informers. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection description | '25 L' above two fleurs-de-lis, with the inscription 'LA NATION ET LE ROI' (The Nation and the King). |
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| Comments |
The assignat system began as a bond secured against confiscated Church properties — the biens nationaux seized after 1789 — and only gradually transformed into a de facto currency through repeated legislative pressure. By the time this 25 livres note was issued in 1792, the Revolutionary government was already printing far beyond what the underlying land values could support, and inflation was accelerating visibly.
Gatteaux, a medal engraver of genuine ability, produced designs for the assignat series that were technically accomplished for the medium. The counterfeiting problem, however, was severe enough that the Convention would eventually make forgery a capital offense — enforcement that proved neither consistent nor effective.