Fortuitously discovered in 2019 by three workers in a building adjoining a manor house in Plozévet, a monetary deposit of 239 gold coins dating from the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV partly enters the collections of the Hôtel de la Monnaie in Paris . It was distributed in two caches discovered a few days apart. The first was hidden in the masonry and included 153 coins contained in two copper alloy boxes (glasses cases). The second was in a sandpit high in the gable of the same building and contained 86 coins in a purse.
The deposit contains two gold crowns struck with a hammer under Louis XIII. All the other coins are louis d’or struck with a pendulum in different mints in the Kingdom. The louis d’or were struck from 1640. These coins are remarkable because they were struck with a pendulum, that is to say with a mechanized process which replaced the manual striking with a hammer which had been used since the Middle Age to make the parts. At the time, monetary production was not centralized. We thus find coins minted in the workshops of Paris, Poitiers, Limoges, Toulouse, Dijon, Reims, Rennes, Rouen, Bourges, Troyes, Aix, or even Amiens. Eight different mints are represented as well as some rarities among the coins discovered in Plozévet. The deposit would have been hidden during 1692 or at the beginning of 1693. Its composition makes it possible to identify the strategy of hoarding of its owner marked by a speculation on the old currencies and a clear mistrust with regard to the “reformed” currencies.
Given the date of acquisition of the building where they were discovered, half of the coins in the deposit belong to the owners of the land, the other half goes to the inventors (Article 716 of the Civil Code). They decided to auction the coins through an auction house in Angers. During the sale on September 29, 2021, 19 coins were pre-empted by the Musée de la Monnaie de Paris, which also benefited from the donation of the two containers from the deposit by the owners.
Containers and coins are exhibited in the main room of the Musée de la Monnaie in an exceptional showcase. A publication of this monetary deposit, whose composition is quite rare, is planned by Thibault Cardon, researcher at the CNRS, with the contribution of INRAP archaeologists who, through their research, will make it possible to place it in its historical context.
Photo: official presentation of pre-empted coins by the Monnaie de Paris museum © Monnaie de Paris
Tags: archeology-
