Sale: CNG 60, Lot: 2091. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 May 2002.  Sold For $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Colonies. Ile de France (Mauritius & Reunion). Louis XV. 1715-1774, ND. Æ Double Sol (9.19 gm). Large crown / Nine fleurs-de-lys in field. Ciani 2175; KM 42 (as Pondichery, India mint); SAC 2. Bold VF, double struck, choice brown toning. Rare. ($300)

Krause lists this coin as an Æ Fanon of the French colony in India of Pondichery. South Asian Coins gives the same listing, adding the issue date of 1723. This seems all very conjectural, and the more specialized reference by Ciani does not mention India. However, colonial French issues generally were not limited to a specific theatre of duty. Such coins may have seen a predominate (and intended) usage in one specific colony, but a subsidiary deployment in another colony is always possible. Stylistically the coin is similar to other Franco-Indian issues and it depicts nine lys rather than five. Mitchiner does not mention the above varieties in his listings of Pondichery in MNI, and cites the occurence of five lys as standard.