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5 Centimes - Jérôme Bonaparte Pattern
| Issuer | Kingdom of Westphalia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1808-1809 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Centimes (0.05) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | HN (Hieronymus Napoléon) |
| Reverse description | Central oval field displays the denomination '5 / CENT.' in large raised numerals and letters, with the mint letter 'J' (for Paris) below and the engraver's signature 'Tiolier' inscribed in cursive script in the lower exergual area. A small horse-head mint mark appears to the left of the mint letter. The peripheral legend, separated from the central oval by a granulated border, reads 'KOEN·V·WESTPH·FR·PR·' (König von Westphalen, Französischer Prinz) along the upper arc and '1809' along the lower arc, all in Latin capitals. |
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| Additional information |
The Kingdom of Westphalia was Napoleon's showcase state — a proof of concept that French administrative and legal reforms could be transplanted wholesale onto German soil. Jérôme Bonaparte, installed as king in 1807 at age twenty-two, oversaw an ambitious monetary overhaul aligned with the Napoleonic decimal system, displacing a tangle of inherited German coinages. These pattern pieces represent the planning stage of that currency reform rather than its execution.
KM#95 never reached circulation. The kingdom itself collapsed in 1813 when Westphalian territory was overrun ahead of Napoleon's final defeats, leaving portions of the planned coinage series as patterns only.