101842 | FRANCE & GERMANY. Louis XVI silver Medal.

101842  |  FRANCE & GERMANY. Louis XVI silver Medal. Dated 1793. The Execution of Louis (30mm, 9.29 g, 12h). By the Loos workshop in Berlin.

 

LOUIS XVI ROI DE FR IMMOLÉ PAR LES FACTIEUX (slain by the rebels), bust right, wearing crown of thorns (an allusion to Jesus Christ) / PLEURÉS ET VENGÉS LE! (mourn and avenge him!), France seated left, head right, leaning upon funerary urn and pointing toward toppled crown; tempest in background; in two lines in exergue, LE XXI IANVIER/MDCCXCIII. Edge: Plain.

 

Julius 262. Mint State. Light gunmetal gray toning, with some brilliance in the fields and a slightly darker nature around the devices; some hairlines in the fields are noted for completeness. Compare to a similar example which realized a total of $630 [!] in CNG 99 (13 May 2015), lot 1147.

 

Ascending to the French throne following the death of Louis XV, his grandfather, Louis XVI inherited a kingdom that was changing, and not to his advantage. More modern thinking associated with the enlightenment led to a growing disenchantment with the ancien régime—with Louis and his wife, Marie Antoinette, serving as lightning rods for criticism. Despite ceding more and more power away from the crown, the royal couple could not escape a doomed fate, as they both met their ends at the guillotine—first Louis in January 1793, then his widow, the former queen, in October of that same year. Not all, however, had the same view that the king was a tyrant and deserving of such a fate, as is expressed on this medal.

 

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