France. 20 Francs, 1840-A (Paris). Fr-560; KM-750.1. Weight 0.1867 ounce. Louis Philippe I. PCGS graded AU-53. In special PCGS Ship of Gold holder which contains One Pinch of Gold Dust recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure.
Special PCGS number 674267.53/35474727. Estimated Value $500 - UP
The so-called retour des cendres ("the return of the ashes") which saw the remains of Napoleon returned to France in October 1840 was intended to reflect his former glory on the increasingly unpopular July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe. However, it also made the king nervous. He ordered the body to be conveyed in an ornate gilded carriage bearing a trophy of flags and the names of Napoleon 's victories and presided over a strictly military ceremony marking its return. While civilians could watch and pay their respects as the funeral cortege passed on its way to Paris, they were prevented from direct participation out of fear of a potential Bonapartist revolutionary outbreak. This exclusion particularly rankled with law and medical students, and the return of Napoleon tended to deepen a general French sense of betrayal by the political elite and increase the longing for the grandeur of First French Empire or even the heady Hundred Days that ended in its destruction. Louis-Philippe was right to be worried. Thanks to the retour des cendres in 1840, the Napoleonic myth continued to grow in France until at last it was strong enough to propel Louis Napoleon Bonaparte to power as Napoleon III, the second Emperor of the French, in 1852.