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!
5 Franchi - Felix and Elisa
| Issuer | Principality of Lucca and Piombino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1805-1808 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1805-1808) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | 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 script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field bears the denomination 5 FRANCHI in two lines within an open olive wreath tied at the base with a ribbon bow. The date appears in the exergue below the wreath. The circular legend PRINCIPATO DI LUCCA E PIOMBINO runs around the upper periphery. The overall composition is clean and unadorned, consistent with Napoleonic-era coinage design conventions. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Lettered with raised foliage decoration |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Lucca and Piombino was one of the more awkward Napoleonic satellite creations — a principality stitched together in 1805 and handed to Napoleon's sister Elisa Baciocchi and her largely ineffectual husband Félix. Elisa ran the state in practice; Félix was essentially decorative, a fact the coinage quietly acknowledges by listing Felix first only in the most nominal sense. The territory had no meaningful monetary tradition of its own, and these silver franchi were struck to French imperial metrology, effectively dollarizing Lucca into the Napoleonic monetary bloc.
Production ceased when Elisa was elevated to Grand Duchess of Tuscany in 1809, making this a four-year window at most.