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Scottish economist (1671–1729) known as a monetary reformer and as the originator of the 'Mississippi scheme' for the development of French territories in America. LS in French, signed “Law,” six pages on adjoining sheets, 8 x 12.75, May 5, 1720. Letter ordering a currency increase, in part (translated): "I give you notice that His Royal Highness has judged it necessary to order a currency increase beginning today, the fifth of the present month, the legal tender currency namely, the gold Louis minted in accordance with the Edict of May 1718 for 48 livres, the halves in proportion, those of the minting ordered by the Edict of November 1716 for 60 livres, the halves and quarters in proportion, those of the minting order by the Edict of May 1709 and December 1715 for 40 livres, the doubles and halves in proportion, and those of preceding mintings…
The intention of His Royal Highness was that immediately on receipt of this letter you will make public in the whole extent of your department the increases which you will make at the same time as visits in all the royal banks, in the place of your residence, and that you summon the same day all your subdelegates to make similar visits in the offices of receipts of the King's treasurer in places of their subdelegates…You will give me the pleasure of informing me regularly of the effect that these different rules will produce, and of the circulation that the banknotes have in the extent of your department, and you know that this must be one of the principle objects of your attention." In fine condition.
John Law’s financial system was at its peak—and already beginning to fracture—by the spring of 1720. As architect of France’s experiment with paper money, Law sought to replace hoarded specie with banknotes issued by the Royal Bank, newly merged with the Company of the Indies. Mounting public anxiety over the stability of paper currency led investors to demand redemption in gold and silver, threatening the entire system. In response, Law and the regent, Philippe d’Orléans, issued a series of increasingly coercive monetary decrees designed to control the circulation and valuation of metallic coinage.
Written at the height of the Mississippi Bubble crisis, this letter vividly documents John Law’s desperate efforts to prop up his collapsing financial system. As confidence in paper money faltered, specie was aggressively regulated through fluctuating official valuations and intrusive inspections of banks and treasury offices, as ordered here. These measures, intended to force reliance on banknotes and suppress hoarding, only accelerated public distrust. Within months, Law’s system imploded entirely, triggering financial ruin across France. Disgraced and politically isolated, Law fled the country later in 1720, leaving behind both his fortune and one of the most infamous monetary experiments in European history.
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