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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
396, Lot: 647. Estimate $150.
Sold for $160. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Premier République. Consulat. Napoléon Bonaparte. Premier Consul, 1799-1804. Cast Pewter Medal (60mm, 81.9 g, 12h). Eleventh anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and the citizens of Gard who died for their country. By Mercié. Jean-Baptiste Dubois, préfet du Gard. Triply dated 14 July 1800, 30 Messidor L’An 8, and 18 Brumaire L’An 8 (8 November AD 1799). Sun rising over the sea, rocks in foreground; XVIII BRUMAIRE/ AN VIII. in exergue / AUX / CITOYENS DU GARD/ MORTS POUR LA PATRIE./ —/ XXV. MESSIDOR AN VIII · REPN./ (XIV. JUILLET MDCCC.)/ PREMIER CONSUL BONAPARTE/ SECOND ET TROISIEME CONSLS./ CAMBACÉRÉRES ET LEBRUN/ MINE. DE L’INTR · L · BONAPARTE/ PRÉFÈT DU GARD/ J · B · DUBOIS; all within wreath. Cf. Hennin 923; cf. Bramsen 57; cf. Julius 829. EF.


On 11 July 1789, Louis XVI dismissed the finance minister Jacques Necker, champion of the lower classes. This action spurred spurred the city of Paris into the beginnings of an uprising. The newly-founded Bourgeois Militia, having first armed themselves with muskets from the Hôtel des Invalides, sought additional weapons and ammunition in the Bastille, a medieval castle, prison, and armory in the heart of Paris. On 14 July, a large crowd of militia, complemented by other frustrated bourgeoisies, gathered outside the fortress and demanded its surrender. As the commander of the facility refused to meet their demands, the crowd stormed the fortress and fired upon the defenders, marking the beginning of the bloody French Revolution.