[Banknotes] Assignat de cinquante sols payable au porteur

Série 2685. Loi du 23 Mai 1793. Uncut sheet with 20 blindstamped bank notes. 38 x 50.5 cm.

Assignats are obligations distributed by the National Assembly during the French revolution. They were issued after the confiscation of church possessions in 1790. The new government was bankrupt and assumed that the financial problems could be solved by issuing certificates with the value of church property. Initially distributed as bonds, the notes soon became legal currency. This created a new problem. Due to a lack of control of the amount printed, the assignats led to hyperinflation and greater instability in the country. In 1792 the value of these bonds was already practically naught. Although single notes are not particularly rare, there are almost no complete uncut sheets in existence.