France. Louis Philippe (1830-1848). Obverse and Reverse Pair of Gilt Bronze Uniface Patterns for the unissued 10 Francs, nd (ca. 1830). Paris. By Domard. Laureate head left, rev. 10/ FRANCS/ ESSAI. Maz.-1083a (R2). Mazard shows this as R2, but we have not found either any similar uniface pattern examples or any pattern Essai in recent auctions or discussions with experts. To the best of our knowledge, this is probably the only example known of such attempt to design a Louis Philippe 10 Francs. In 1830, an attempt to replace the Gold 40 Francs was made, however the ordinance of November 8, 1830 instituting a 10 Francs, 50 Francs and 100 Francs was finally never applied. It is only in 1850 that such gold 10 Francs were finally struck depicting the actual sovereign of the time, Napoleon III. Still, a similar design for the Louis Philippe 20 Francs was adopted for the circulating coinage.Extremely rare.PCGS SP 61 and PCGS SP62. (2)
