Exceptionally Rare Napoléon Portrait Pattern with Victory Reverse
FRANCE. Consulate. Silver 5 Francs Essai (Pattern), Year XI (1802/3). Paris Mint. Napoléon as First Consul. PCGS SPECIMEN-62.
Maz-531a (R5); Gad-564.(a) (no value listed); T&T-1054.a.1.PF. Type with large Victory. Lettered edge. By H. Auguste. Weight: 24.88 gms. Charmingly toned on the obverse, with some deeper hues accentuating the refined portrait and legend, and with some intense iridescence populating the fields of the reverse. Despite being attributed to the Year XI competition for coinage designs, this type undoubtedly does not belong, as the archives are clear in that Auguste did not participate. Additionally, the use of a collar broken into three segments for the edge is not consistent with the competition of that year, and the authors of T&T (Théret & Thaillard) suggest that this type may, in fact, have been struck after 1830. In his notes, Margolis, does mention the collar being broken into three segments, though he does not date it to a later period, stating that "...this essay, although unquestionably original, is probably the result of private initiative on the part of Henry Auguste. However, as a prominent gold- and silversmith supplying objects to the government, he may have received special permission to create an essay bearing a denomination. " Regardless, its GREAT RARITY cannot be overstated, and the extravagant, nearly-Choice state of preservation of the present specimen no doubt makes it one of the finest known. Indeed, just two have been graded finer at PCGS (both are SPECIMEN-63), along with just two finer at NGC (assessed as MS-63 and MS-64+, and attributed as Maz-531, despite their flan bruni status).
From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from the Farouk Collection in March 1954). Ex: Palace Collections of Egypt [King Farouk] (Sotheby's - 3/1954) Lot # 2177 (part of). Ex: Virgil M. Brand Collection (as "Ferrari-Brand," Schulman - ca. 1932) Lot # 3505. Ex: Baron Phillipe de Ferrari la Renotière Collection.

Estimate: $10000.00- $20000.00