This is almost certainly a presentation or trial striking made in the immediate wake of the July Revolution, when Louis-Philippe's government needed to legitimize the new Orléanist regime with speed. Pattern coinage in gold at this weight — well above the standard 5-franc silver module — was a deliberate signal to financiers and foreign courts that the new monarchy intended fiscal continuity with the Restoration it had just displaced.
The Mazur and Gadoury variant attributions suggest meaningful die differences exist within this type, though the precise distinctions remain incompletely catalogued.
This is almost certainly a presentation or trial striking made in the immediate wake of the July Revolution, when Louis-Philippe's government needed to legitimize the new Orléanist regime with speed. Pattern coinage in gold at this weight — well above the standard 5-franc silver module — was a deliberate signal to financiers and foreign courts that the new monarchy intended fiscal continuity with the Restoration it had just displaced.
The Mazur and Gadoury variant attributions suggest meaningful die differences exist within this type, though the precise distinctions remain incompletely catalogued.