The Double Louis officially weighed 15.297 g. (236 English Grains Troy, 1.376 m.) @.900 Fine, 212.46 grains Fine Gold.
Citation: Traité des monnaies d'or et d'argent qui circulent chez les différents peuples...; Pierre-Frédéric Bonneville
c.1829:
c.1844: 236 grains =15.293 g.; 212.3 grains = 13.757 g. Fine Gold
Citation: Bankers' Magazine, Journal of the Money Market..., Vol. 1-2 (1845)
c.1834: Actual Circulated Coin 232 grains =15.03 g.; ~209 grains = 13.528 g. Fine Gold
In ~45 years, the standard Double Louis in circulation lost 4.1 grains.
Although finer examples weigh 15.29, this Double-Louis dated 1786 reportedly weighed 15.31 g. (236.27 grains), showing wear.
Platinum Counterfeit, without gilding: stated as 15.13 g. (0.48644 Ozt) Diameter: 28.5 mm
Counterfeit Double Louis Gold Coins (c. "1787"):
{After December 1801} To start a new job, {Louis} Sénot bought {Francois}Roy two lots or forty-two marcs platina ore, which he gave to {Pierre-Joseph} Brasseur. At the latter's abode, they formed planchets, which were struck at Passy, and produced 350 Double Louis. In March thru June 1802, {Aubin} Quartier sold them to Vigie,who passed on to Dumont and Poulareau.
Citation: Recueil des causes célèbres, et des arrêts qui les ont décidées, Vol. 4, Door Maurice Méjan
Where the Paris Marc (0.24475 Kg) = 7.86889533 Ozt., 42 Marcs = 10.28 Kg or ~330.5 Ozt.
Assuming Abraham L. Breuget purchased and re-sold better quality platina, 75% Pt purity, 42 Marcs should have produced ~248 Ozt Fine Pt. ; 80% Pt produced ~278 Ozt.
In Gold-alloy, 350 Double-Louis weighed true at ~172.1 Ozt, with 155. Ozt Fine Au. However, 1801 manufactured counterfeits of 14+ year old (1788) coins should have appeared neither suspiciously new nor full weight; average weight for 350 1788 Double Louis might be 170.64 Ozt, ~153.6 Ozt.
The first stage of the operation (refining) appears grossly inefficient, unless the platina was of exceedingly very poor grade (~47% Pt.) Alternately, ~60 - 76 Ozt otherwise remained or 'disappeared' (sold as scrap to market, unaccounted for in the criminal report.) Another theory makes sense: Sénot agreed to refine the platina for Breuget, providing the Paris watch-maker with about half the Fine Platinum (~143 Ozt, or 9 Livres) at no cost a month or so later.
The coins were discounted at least 10.42% below nominal value and perhaps significantly below market value for true Double-Louis at the time.
Unknown, the cost of the platina and the expense for the manufacture of blanks would establish the profitability of the enterprise.
If 330.5 Ozt platina ~ 155 Ozt = Fr. 15,050 - 16,800,
By reasonable timeline,
In 5-6 months, three counterfeiters refined and produced 350 Platinum-Gold coins.
1 coin per day?
Paris Counterfeiters purchase massive quantities: ~2,408 Ozt total: at 70% Pt ~ 1,685 Ozt.
QUARTIER purchased an additional 300 Marcs from England, plus 6 Marcs from Janetty (late 1802?) at unknown price.
p.355
282 Single Louis d'or = ~62.44 Ozt Pt
"These pieces are made of platinum covered with gold, of which they contain three francs worth at the very best."
Fine Gold = 0.86 g., 13.3 Grains
1801: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Coined, Counterfeit Fr.) = Fr. 97.084 - 108.3725
Les premiers faux double Louis de 48 livres en platine doré seront découverts dans un atelier clandestin de la Creuse fin 1804. Pourtant, un autre rapport du 4 avril 1805, indique que les premières fausses monnaies en platine semblent être des Louis de 24 livres, fabriqués par un certain Miot et par un Orfèvre de Troyes nommé Guérin. (?)
The first dual fake Louis 48 pounds in gold plate will be discovered in a sweatshop Creuse end of 1804. Yet another report of April 4, 1805, indicates that the first fake currencies platinum seem to be Louis 24 books, produced by a Miot and a goldsmith named Troyes Guerin. (?)
See also:
Numismatique & Change, "Mystère autour du faux double louis en platine 1787 BB" : 65 (43), 70 (24).
Platine. 15,11 g. 28,5 mm.
This copy is a fake Double Louis in gilded platinum, see note 117) F. Droulers in his Encyclopédie, tome III, p.149 and an article of the same Numismatique et Change in October 2000 that indicate these Double Louis would have been made during the Restoration. The same author had already studied these fake Louis in platinum from Strasbourg and Orleans in Numismatique et Change of July 1978 et dans le BSFN of January 1979. Technically, the striking of counterfeits could only have occurred only from the Empire Period. Errors are detected, the date in 1787 when Strasbourg was closed; as for Orléans the workshop was not allowed to strike gold and the different use on counterfeits only appeared in 1788. This beautiful specimen is struck with edges made very property. Even wear indicates average circulation. Interesting example.
1009. ROYALE FRANCE , Louis XVI (1774-1793), Double Louis d'or with bare head, BB 1787, Strasbourg. Contemporary counterfeit in gilded Platinum. Right: Bare head left, long hair. Different: heart (Jean-Louis Beyerle). Reverse: Multiple ecus of France and Navarre under a crown. Different: Toothed Edge (John Guerin). Ref .: Dupl 1706 var.; Ci, 2182 var.; Gad. 363; Dr., 614 (listed only 6 copies). 15,27 g. Extremely Rare. Flawed planchet and the assayer's test on the edge.
Counterfeit Double Louis "1788" (but produced at an unknown date):
Where the 1785-91 Double Louis weighed 15.2970 Grams with a Specific Gravity ~18.7, the False Double Louis should have had a Specific Gravity of ~15.35.
The False Double Louis had ~ 4 Grams .999 Au and 11.2 Grams .98 Pt. Silver was presumably some part of the solder, an unknown alloy. Aqua regia would rapidly dissolve Copper and and because the dissolution had a greenish tint, Copper was quite possibly omitted from the analysis, in error.
Factoring alloy-solder (90% Au, 8.34% Cu, 16.67% Ag) with Fine Gold, it seems about 1.5 grains Troy were lost and the full solder weight should have been 1.21 Grams: about 7.8% of the circulated counterfeit's absolute weight. Deducting also the Platinum planchet (11.2 g), the Fine Gold gilding (shell) then appears to have been 3 g.
Two problems arise: what was the presumed loss of Copper, and what was the 'wear rate' (to calculate the original total weight) ?
Assuming the Double Louis should weigh 15.297 at full Mint weight new, and a constant wear-rate, the ordinary Double Louis in 1835 weighing 15.25 g had lost 1.5 mg or ~0.02315 Grain Troy per 5 years. Assuming the rarity of an intact counterfeit implied a circulation rate half the norm, full weight of the counterfeit may have been as high as 15.471 g.
Given the gilding weight remaining, the intact shell should have weighed 3.3%, in the correct alloy proportion with French coin in 1788. (Copper Loss: 0.3 g.)
The coin was 0.13 cm thick and the circumference was 7.288 cm, so the 'area of the circumference' (approximate value of the edge) was 0.94744 cm2. The diameter was unstated but correct at 23.2 mm, so the area was 5.3824 cm2 per face. The entire surface should have 11.715 cm2 of Fine Gold, factoring minor wear.
ANALYSE DE FAUX DOUBLE-LOUIS EN PLATINE PLAQUES D'OR.
Les faux double louis sur lesquels nous avons expérimenté nous ont été remis par un changeur du Palais-Royal qui désirait connaître quelle était la proportion exacte d'or qu'ils contenaient.
Ces faux louis, au millésime de 1788, paraissent avoir été fabriqués avec une lame de platine plaquée d'or sur ses deux faces , et qui aurait été ensuite frappée. Leur épaisseur était de 0,0013 ; leur densité à +10 = 20.135.
Leur poids absolu était un peu plus fort que celui des double-louis ordinaires , car un de ces faux louis pesait 15.450, au lieu de 15.250 que pèse le double louis ordinaire.
Un de ces faux louis , brisé en quatre morceaux , a été traité à l'aide d'une douce chaleur, par un mélange de trois parties d'acide hydrochlorique et d'une partie d'acide nitrique étendu du quart de son poids d'eau; au bout de dix minutes environ, tout l'or qui était à la surface des morceaux de platine avait été dissous; on a décanté la liqueur, qui avait une belle couleur jaune orangé, et on a lavé à l'eau distillée les morceaux de platine, qui avaient alors une belle couleur blanche argentine et portaient encore l'empreinte des reliefs qui existaient sur la pièce.
La dissolution a été étendue d'eau pour recueillir un précipité blanc floconneux qui s'y était formé parle refroidissement. Ce précipité a été reconnu pour du chlorure d'argent qu'on a aisément réduit au chalumeau avec un peu de carbonate de soude. Le globule d'argent obtenu et séparé de la scorie pesait = 0,201.
Après avoir séparé le chlorure d'argent, on a projeté peu à peu dans la dissolution du protosulfute de fer pulvérisé jusqu'à ce que la liqueur cessât de se troubler, il s'est formé un précipité brun verdâtre d'or très-divisé qui a été recueilli par décantation, lavé d'abord à l'eau acidulée par l'acide hydrochlorique et ensuite à l'eau chaude; ce précipité d'or, séché et calciné au rouge, a pris la couleur de l'or mat; son poids était de 4,050.
La petite quantité de platine qui a été dissoute en même temps que l'or par l'eau régale, a été isolée en concentrant la liqueur d'où ce dernier métal avait été précipité, et en y ajoutant une solution saturée d'hydrochlorate d'ammoniaque. Le précipité d'hydrochlorate de platine et d'ammoniaque recueilli et lavé à l'eau alcoolisée a fourni par la calcination 0,56 de mousse de platine qu'on a réunie aux morceaux de platine restés insolubles dans l'eau régale.
Il résulte des essais entrepris sur ces faux doublelouif, qu'ils sont formés de:
La petite quantité d'argent que contiennent ces fausses pièces de monnaie a-t-elle été introduite pour souder l'or au platine? ou bien existait-elle dans l'or qu'on a employé pour les fabriquer? C'est ce qu'il n'est pas possible de décider positivement; cependant, comme on n'a trouvé aucun autre métal servant d'intermède comme on n'a trouvé aucun autre métal servant d'intermède à l'union de ces deux métaux, nous serions assez disposé à admettre la première hypothèse.
J. S. Lassaigne
ANALYSIS OF FALSE DOUBLE-LOUIS IN PLATINUM, PLATED WITH GOLD .
The fake Double Louis on which we have experimented were given to us by a Palais-Royal money changer who wanted to know the exact proportion of gold they contained.
These fake Louis, dated to 1788, appear to have been made of a platinum lamina heavily plated with gold on both sides which was then struck. Their thickness was 1.3 mm; density at +10 = 20.135.
Their total weight was a bit heavier than the ordinary Double Louis, because one of those fake Louis weighed 15.450 instead of 15.250, the weight of a typical Double Louis.
One of these fake Louis, broken into four pieces, was treated with a gentle heat, with a mixture of three parts hydrochloric acid and nitric acid portion extended a quarter of its weight water; after about ten minutes, all the gold that had been on the of the surface of the platinum pieces had been dissolved; the liquid was decanted, which had a strong orange-yellow color, and the platinum pieces, after washing with distilled water, then had a fine silver-white color which still bore the relief imprints of that had existed on the coin.
Dissolution had been diluted with water to collect a flaky white precipitate which had formed on the so-called cooling. This precipitate was recognized for Silver Chloride that was easily reduced by blowtorch with a small amount of Sodium Carbonate. The globule of silver obtained and separated from the slag weighed = 0.201 g.
After having separated the Silver Chloride, powdered iron protosulfute was gradually added to the liquification until the liquid stopped bubbling, a greenish-brown precipitate of finely divided gold formed which was collected by decantation, washed first with water acidified by hydrochloric acid and then and then by hot water; this gold precipitate, dried and calcined to a red heat, took the color of dull gold; its weight was 4.050 g.
The small amount of Platinum which had been dissolved together with the Gold by aqua regia was isolated by concentrating the liquid in which the latter metal was precipitated by adding a saturated solution of Ammonia Hydrochlorate. The precipitate of Platinum Hydrochlorate and Muriate of Ammonia was collected and washed in alcoholic water, allowed for the calcination of 0.56 g. of Platinum sponge joined to the remaining pieces of Platinum insoluble in aqua regia.
The result of the tests undertaken on these fake Double Louis produce:
Gold ................... 4.050 g.
Silver ................. 0.201 g.
Platinum ........... 11.200 g.
15.451 g.
Was the small amount of Silver that these counterfeit coins contain introduced to solder the gold to the platinum? Or did it come from the gold that used to make them? That's what it is not possible to decide positively; however, as we found no other metal serving as an intermediary to the union of these two metals, we would be quite willing to admit the first hypothesis.
Jean-Louis Lassaigne (had worked in the laboratory under Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, by the early 1830s a leading chemist in Paris.)
Citation: Journal de chimie médicale, de pharmacie et de toxicologie..., Vol. 1 (1835)
Of the "Trésor de Calavados" discovered in Caen, 1997 a false Louis (Gold gilded Platinum) weighed 7.64 g.
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