20 Franc

1815-L, France (1st Restoration), Louis XVIII. Gold 20 Francs Coin. NGC AU-53!

Mint year: 1815
Mintage: 54,702 pcs.
Mint Place: Bayonne (L)
Engraver: Michael Tiolier
References: Friedberg 526, KM-706.4. R!
Condition: Certified and graded by NGC as AU-53!
Denomination: 20 Francs ("Uniformed Bust") - 1st Restoration
Weight: ca. 6.45gm
Material: Gold (.900)
Diameter: 21mm

Obverse: Uniformed bust of Louis XVIII right. Engraver's name (Tiolier) at bust's base.
Legend: LOUIS XVIII ROI DE FRANCE.

Reverse: Crowned french shield with three lis flanked by olive branches.
Legend: PIECE DE 20 FRANCS. (privy mark: horisontal flower) 1815 (L)

Following the ousting of Napoleon I of France in 1814, the Allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty to the French throne. The ensuing period is called the Restoration, following French usage, and is characterized by a sharp conservative reaction and the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as a power in French politics.

Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as "the Desired" (le Désiré),[1] was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824 except for a period in 1815 known as the Hundred Days. Louis XVIII spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, during the French Revolution and the First French Empire, and again in 1815, during the period of the Hundred Days, upon the return of Napoleon I from Elba.

Until his accession to the throne of France, Louis held the title of Count of Provence as brother of King Louis XVI. On 21 September 1792, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and deposed King Louis XVI, who was later executed by guillotine. When the young Louis XVII, Louis XVI's son, died in prison in June 1795, Louis XVIII succeeded his nephew as titular King.

During the French Revolution and Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia, the United Kingdom and Russia. When the Sixth Coalition finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis was restored to what he, and the French royalists, considered his rightful position. Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba, however, and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled and a Seventh Coalition declared war on the French Empire, defeated Napoleon, and for a second time restored Louis XVIII to the French throne.

Louis XVIII ruled as king for slightly less than a decade. The Bourbon Restoration regime was a constitutional monarchy (unlike the ancien régime, which was absolutist). As a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIII's royal prerogative was reduced substantially by the Charter of 1814, France's new constitution. Louis had no children; therefore, upon his death, the crown passed to his brother, Charles, Count of Artois. Louis XVIII was the last French monarch to die while reigning.