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25 Sols Assignat
| Issuer | Assemblée nationale (French Revolutionary Government) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1792 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed within a fine decorative border, the note centres on a bold typographic legend reading DOMAINES NATIONAUX / Assignat de VINGT-CINQ SOLS, with the date and year of liberty inscribed in an arc at the top. A radiant eye vignette at the upper centre is flanked by anti-counterfeiting warnings, while a cockerel bearing the Liberty cap on a staff occupies the lower centre, positioned between the series notation and a handwritten serial number. The denomination is restated in a panel at the foot, with the engraver's credit J. P. DROZ FECIT appearing immediately below the cockerel vignette. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Two circular watermarks incorporated into the paper, each enclosing a small figural motif; these impressions are visible when the note is held to transmitted light and form the primary anti-counterfeiting security of this issue. |
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| Comments |
The 25 sols assignat of 1792 sits at the practical end of the Revolutionary monetary experiment — small enough in denomination to function as everyday currency for working people, replacing the copper and billon coin it was never quite accepted as. Assignats at this level saw brutal circulation: passed hand to hand in markets, worn through in months, and frequently counterfeited. The Paris authorities were aware of the counterfeiting problem well before this issue; the watermark was one of several successive attempts to outpace forgers who were operating on both royalist and foreign payrolls.
Droz was an exceptional technician, better known for his medal work and his later role at the British Royal Mint. His involvement here was a matter of Revolutionary necessity — the government needed engravers who could cut plates resistant to crude replication.