 John Law. Nummus ubi loquitur, 1714/1720. B.126, B.XXIV. Unsigned. Silver. 32.2 mm. 158.7 gns. Obverse: Happy man smoking money and defecating same, the latter sprouting wings and flying away. The inscription suggests the cash is better in circulation than retained. Date in chronogram 1714. Reverse: Seven line inscription praising Law for making wealth from interest, the legend around exhorting the reader to see the great things Law does for France. Date in chronogram 1720. Choice Extremely Fine. Neither C. Wyllys nor Benjamin Betts had seen a copy of this medal and both relied on Med. Ill. for their description. The reading NOOIT is correct.
The reverse is the same die as B.III. The obverse does not refer directly to Law and its chronogrammatic date 1714 could suggest the medal was critical of the high interest rates in effect in France in 1714, following the end of the disastrous War of the Spanish Succession and the death of Louis XIV. The 1716 Avenger of Fraud medal's reverse appears to be referring to similar abuses in financial markets at the time. There seems to be a series of so-called John Law medals that marry a critical die with another either laudatory of or inappropriate to Law's scheme.
Ex Glendining's sale of March 16, 1988, lot 110.
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