---
title: Assignat of fifty sols, law of 23 May 1793 (British Museum)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/assignat-cinquante-sols-1793/
description: A fifty-sol note dated 'L'an 2me de la République' shows a seated figure holding a tablet of 'Droits de l'homme' and another holding up a pair of scales…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Assignat of fifty sols, law of 23 May 1793 (British Museum)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/assignat-cinquante-sols-1793.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/assignat-cinquante-sols-1793.jpg)

# Assignat of fifty sols, law of 23 May 1793 (British Museum)

A fifty-sol note dated 'L'an 2me de la République' shows a seated figure holding a tablet of 'Droits de l'homme' and another holding up a pair of scales, with warnings of death for counterfeiters and a reward for informers in the side panels. The tell is the allegory and the virtue words standing as the note's guarantee; the 1792 note's royal formula is gone.

## Text on the object

Original (French) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Loi du 23 Mai 1793.
Série 2534
L'An 2me de la République.

Domaines nationaux.
Assignat
de cinquante sols,
payable au porteur.

[signature, possibly Saussay]

[tablet] DROITS DE L'HOMME
50
[engravers' credit at foot illegible]

LA LOI PUNIT DE MORT LE CONTREFACTEUR
LA NATION RÉCOMPENSE LE DÉNONCIATEUR
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Law of 23 May 1793. Series 2534. Year 2 of the Republic. National domains. Assignat of fifty sols, payable to the bearer. Rights of Man. The law punishes the counterfeiter with death; the nation rewards the informer.
```

[← Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/)

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- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
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