Emma Bruff,
238 Felicity Street, New Orleans, La.
Postage stamps.
Hawley Webster,
394 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, Long Island.
Postmarks.
Louis Gibbs,
Care of J. J. Carter, Titusville, Penn.
C. H. L.—The old scrip which you inclose is probably a genuine five-franc assignat, as the paper money was called which was first issued by the French government in 1790, and afterward by the Revolutionary authorities. It was based on the security of the public domain, consisting of the confiscated estates of the Church and wealthy exiles. The value of these assignats, which were issued to the amount of 45,578,000,000 francs, declined rapidly after the reign of terror. In the summer of 1793, one franc in silver was worth three francs in paper. Three years later, one franc in gold was worth three hundred francs in paper, although the government, in order to check this depreciation, had passed a law to regulate the price of commodities.
The inscription on your assignat shows that it was issued in October or November, 1793, the second year of the French Republic. The lettering in the corners proclaims death to any one who should dare to counterfeit the assignat. The livre, which name appears on the scrip, was a French coin about the value of a franc, by which it was superseded in 1795. Eighty francs were equal in value to eighty-one livres.