French New World Issues 1721 – 1722 9 Deniers
The Edict of June 1721, decreed by King Louis XV, authorized copper coinage of 9 Deniers denominations. It was also known as a ‘Copper Sou.’ Two minters, Rouen and La Rochelle, both struck these coins for use in the French New World – Canada, Louisiana and the Caribbean. The copper blanks were of much higher quality than the prior copper shipments and they were imported from Sweden. Rouen and La Rochelle both struck 1721-dates 9 Deniers. The coins struck by Rouen bear a “B” mintmark and those struck by La Rochelle bear an “H” mintmark. There are 4 major types for the 1721-1722 period.
The first type is the 1721-B, struck by Rouen, and it is the scarcest of the four types. The obverse has crossed L’s with a crown above. Around the periphery, in Latin, is “SIT. NOMEN. DOMINI. BENEDICTUM” – which translates to “BLESSED IS THE NAME OF THE LORD”.
The reverse has 3 lines of text followed by the mintmark – “COLONIES – FRANCOISES – 1721 – B.”
The next type is the 1721-dated 9 Deniers coin struck by La Rochelle, so it bears the H mintmark. The design of this coin is exactly the same as the 1721-B coin. It and the 1722-H are the two most commonly encountered examples. The coin is depicted on the next page.
The next coin is the other commonly encountered coin – the 1722-H 9 Deniers. Again, the obverse and reverse designs were exactly alike, except for the date change.
The fourth and final type is the same as above, 1722-H 9 Deniers, except that this is an overdate of 1722-H, 2 Over 1. The overdate is generally fairly visible. It is the second scarcest of the four types and is not prohibitively expensive.
Between the two years, 1721 and 1722, approximately 534,000 of these 9 Denier coins were struck, but just over 8,000 of them were successfully placed into circulation and used for commerce. The colonists in Canada, the American Colonies and the Caribbean much preferred silver coins to copper coins. Additionally, the coins were seemingly underweight, even for struck copper coins so they were reluctantly used and most were rejected.
By 1726, the remaining unused coins were collected and shipped back to France to be melted and the copper reclaimed for use in other coinage.
| Date | Type | Mintage | VG Value | XF Value |
| 1721-B | 9 Deniers | Unknown | $600 | $12,500 |
| 1721-H | 9 Deniers | Unknown | $150 | $2,750 |
| 1722-H | 9 Deniers | Unknown | $150 | $2,750 |
| 1722-H 2/1 | 9 Deniers | Unknown | $200 | $4,500 |
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