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Essai de 1/2 franc, Banque du Peuple
| Issuer | Banque du Peuple |
|---|---|
| Year | 1848 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | VG#3216 var., Maz#1400 |
| Obverse description | Central design features a radiating level (spirit level) surmounted by a Phrygian liberty cap, with two clasped hands below, symbolizing fraternal association. A circular legend surrounds the device reading ASSOCIATION FRATERNELLE DES MÉNAGES, with BANQUE DU PEUPLE and the date 1848 inscribed within the field. The overall composition reflects the utopian socialist imagery associated with the revolutionary period of the French Second Republic. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | 1848 - (fr) (en) Essai, laiton |
| Additional information |
The Banque du Peuple was a short-lived cooperative credit institution founded by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in early 1848, conceived as a vehicle for interest-free mutual credit and the eventual abolition of money as a tool of exploitation. It never opened for business in any meaningful sense — Proudhon was arrested in June 1848, and the project collapsed almost immediately. This essai exists as a physical artifact of a financial institution that never actually functioned, struck in brass rather than the silver of official Monnaie de Paris production.