425, Lot: 686. Estimate $50. Sold for $55. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Royal. Louis XVI. 1774–1793. Æ Jeton (26mm, 5.93 g, 1h). Uncertain mint in Prussia. Reich, engraver. LUD • XVI REX GALLIAE DEFUNCTUS, laureate head left; small R• below / SOL REGNI ABIIT, funeral urn; scepter to left, crown to right; DEN 21 IAN/1793 in two lines in exergue. Cf. Hennin 479/480 (for obv./rev.). Good VF, flan preparation marks and old collection number (602.) in India ink on reverse.

From the BRN Collection, purchased from Münzhandel Hardelt, December 2011.

In the aftermath of the execution of Louis XVI on 21 January 1793, many of the member states of the anti-revolutionary coalition issued jetons and medals expressing their revulsion over the event. The present piece was struck in Prussia, a principal state in the coalition, ruled by Louis' ally, Frederick William II. Its Latin legends read, in translation: "Louis XVI, King of France, is dead" on the obverse, and "The Sun has Disappeared from the Kingdom. Died 21 January 1793" on the reverse.