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The Medals Concerning John Law and the Mississippi System Adams John W. Numismatic Notes and Monographs • 167 THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY John Law was a larger-than-life figure: a dissolute young rake, then in turn a professional gambler, a brilliant economic theorist, and finally a leading political figure. Law’s economic theories linked credit and money and thus provided a theoretical basis for paper money and government management ofthe money supply; the virtual bankruptcy ofthe French monarchy in 1716 gave him an opportunity to put his theories into practice. In a series ofbold measures, he reformed the French government’s finances, created a national bank and a trading company to manage them jointly, and issued large stock offerings to capitalize the company. As the shares ofhis Mississippi Company became eagerly sought after, the share value became entirely disproportionate to the Company’s actual revenues. The share price soon collapsed, bringing down the Mississippi Company and the Banque Royale along with it. The rise and fall ofLaws financial system affected a great many investors and was widely commented on throughout Europe. Among the many forms ofcommentary that were produced are a number of medals, mostly satirical and many ofthem made by the German medallist Christian Wermuth. These medals were studied by several authors ofthe late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but have been relatively neglected since. This book catalogues the diverse medals that commented on Law’s financial system, assembling the much greater amount of information now available about the series, along with a supplementary catalogue oftypes that were suggested by earlier researchers to have referred to Law but are no longer considered to do so. / • f NUMISMATIC NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS 167 Law The Medals Concerning John System and the Mississippi John W. Adams k Numismatic Notes and Monographs 167 THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY NEW YORK 2005 MOW © 2005 The American Numismatic Society ISSN 0078-2718 ISBN 0-89722-295-4 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adams, John W., 1936- The medals concerning John Law and the Mississippi system John / — W. Adams. 1st ed. p. cm. -- (Numismatic notes and monographs, ISSN 0078-2718 ; no. 167) Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 0-89722-295-4 (hardcover) 1. Medals--France--History--i8th century. 2. Law, John, 1671-1729. 3. Finance, Public--France--History--i8th century. 4. Compagnie des Indes. I. Title. II. Series: Numismatic notes & monographs ; no. 167. CJ6152.A3 2005 737 '.222 '0944--dc22 2005015559 Printed in China Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction i 1 }ohn Law, Larger than Life 3 2 The Literature 21 Census and Rarity 27 3 4 Descriptions ofthe Medals 31 Associated Pieces 5 55 Appendix I Concordance 65 Appendix II Index ofLegends and Inscriptions 67 References 71 Image Credits 75