102735 | FRANCE. Nièvre. Contract Lawyers of Clamecy octagonal silver Jeton.

102735 |   FRANCE. Nièvre. Contract Lawyers of Clamecy octagonal silver Jeton. Issued circa late 19th century (32mm x 32mm, 13.68 g, 12h). By A. Borrel.

 

Female personification of Justice seated facing on throne, holding scales, tablet of laws, and Hand of Justice; implements of agriculture and commerce to left and right // NOTAIRES DE L'ARRONDISSEMENT DE CLAMECY / NIÈVRE, tablet of laws over scales; all within oak wreath. Edge: «cornucopia» ARGENT. Lerouge 97. PCGS MS-64. Extremely lustrous, with some hints of burnished toning at the peripheries and with immense frosting upon the devices. The only such example of the type in the PCGS census.

 

Ex Collection "PL."

 

Among the numerous jetons issued predominantly during the 18th and 19th centuries in France, certain professions tend to stand out. These jetons, dissimilar to their counterparts from prior centuries, which may have had some numismatic function as well as reckoning use, had far less utilitarian appeal. Instead, as James McClellan notes in his work, Old Regime France and its Jetons: Pointillist History and Numismatics, "...the historical and numismatic interest in jetons stems more from what else they became, particularly though the end of the eighteenth century under the Bourbon monarchs, as perks of office for office holders in the burgeoning nation state of France, New Year’s Day presents exchanged among certain segments of society, and lagniappe handed out for attendance at meetings in town halls, regional estates, and learned societies. Jetons figured in the rites and rituals of the guilds and faculties; they were swag for general meetings of the clergy, and they served as calling cards for noble families. Decoding hidden messages became a parlor game for cognoscenti, and as “petit monuments” some jetons are miniature works of high art produced by the world’s most talented artists/engravers at the world’s preeminent mint."

 

Here, the role of the notaire is mentioned, specifically for Clamecy. While sometimes being translated as the English cognate "notary," the role of the notaire in France was, and still is, much more involved. Essentially serving as a contract lawyer, the notaire deals in all facets of contracts in French life, most notably with wills, estates, and the sale of property. Given the omnipresent nature of such dealings in day-to-day life, it's not surprising how rampant the issuance of jetons for notaires was.

 

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Upload: 3 September 2024.