The Paris Mint is the name of a company from Pessac, near Bordeaux. Its traditional HQ in Paris is now largely occupied by the museum of the mint, a commercial state-owned enterprise. I attended a meeting there last week, which gave me a chance to do a high-speed visit to the museum. Paying visitors had already been shown out. That gave me the opportunity to make a series of pictures of portrait punches with the lighting just right. I covered only kings on punches with good light. They were not necessarily used on coins, but most resemble a portrait used on coins. I tried to keep track of what I was doing, but in view of the hurry, I am not sure I got everything right. I have high-res variants of these pictures if you are interested.
Remember that you are looking at steel and that these are colour pictures. Enjoy.
Peter
