---
title: Assignat of fifteen sols, law of 4 January 1792
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/assignat-quinze-sols-1792/
description: A fifteen-sol note secured on 'Domaines nationaux' is dated 'L'an quatrième de la liberté' and carries two seated figures flanking a stele marked 'Droit…
section: Collection
---

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

[![Assignat of fifteen sols, law of 4 January 1792](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/assignat-quinze-sols-1792.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/assignat-quinze-sols-1792.jpg)

# Assignat of fifteen sols, law of 4 January 1792

A fifteen-sol note secured on 'Domaines nationaux' is dated 'L'an quatrième de la liberté' and carries two seated figures flanking a stele marked 'Droit de l'homme', with a seal reading 'La Nation, la Loi, le Roi'. The tell is the virtue vocabulary on a payment instrument: liberty and rights are printed beside the face value as the guarantee, with the banknote itself a vehicle for the political message.

## Text on the object

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

```
LOI DU 4. JANVIER 1792.
[seal] quinze sols.
[seal] LA NATION LA LOI LE ROI
L'AN QUATRIÈME DE LA LIBERTÉ.

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

[signature illegible]
[engravers' credits illegible: GÉRARD / FECIT]

[stele] DROIT DE L'HOMME
[scroll] FAITS HISTO[illegible]
15s.
Série 273.

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 4 January 1792. Fifteen sols. The Nation, the Law, the King. The fourth year of Liberty. National domains. Assignat of fifteen sols, payable to the bearer. Right of Man. Series 273. The law punishes the counterfeiter with death; the nation rewards the informer.
```

[← Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [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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- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (France · 1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- [Assignat of fifty sols, law of 23 May 1793 (British Museum)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/assignat-cinquante-sols-1793/) (French First Republic · May 23, 1793 · Glittering generalities)
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- [Te Haeata (Auckland), 'Te Runanga Maori ki Kohimarama', 1 September 1860](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/te-haeata-kohimarama-runanga-1860/) (New Zealand · Sep 1, 1860 · Glittering generalities)
- ["American Progress" (John Gast, chromolithograph for George A. Crofutt, 1873)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/american-progress-crofutt-chromolithograph-1873/) (United States · 1873 · Glittering generalities, Transfer). Content note: Allegorical 1873 print of westward settlement in which Native figures and bison are shown fleeing into a darkened sky.
