1767-A Sou, BN MS(PCGS#158651)

1767-A Sou, BN MS (PCGS#158651)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Lot Description: 171.9 grains. In October 1766, French authorities authorized a new copper issue, a sou worth 12 deniers intended to circulate in all French colonies. Some 1.6 million pieces were struck in 1767, although at that time France didn't control an acre of North America. In the West Indies, Guadeloupe was their main colonial possession, along with the islands of St. Lucia, Martinique, and a few others. There's no evidence to suggest any consideration to sending these coins to their few remaining territories in Africa or beyond. Based on the evidence we have, therefore, this is a coin of the French West Indies, with little more relevance to North America than to any other West Indian coin of the second half of the 18th century. Of course, it is still dramatic, historic, and important, struck for a unique economy with a vital relationship with the British colonies of North America and, later, the early United States - important enough that these coins undoubtedly arrived on American shores at various times during the 18th and possibly also the early 19th centuries.