France Lille Token (Jeton) 1827 Maximus Non-Plus Ultra. VF

Grade: VF 
Material: Copper
"Maximus" "Non-Plus Ultra"
In 1827 there appeared at Lille a copper coin - value of 1 liard (1 duit) - strange and new. With that money spread the rumour that it had been struck by one of our (Liege, Belgium) metal merchants. People claimed that the effigy was the Duke of Reischtadt (Napoleon II son of Napoleon Bonaparte), and there was political propaganda involved. The truth was that a merchant of Liege had sold to Mr. M*** for 4,000 francs of the lion 320.000 Maximus tokens/coins, which were circulated among all the small foreign coins then in use. In Lille the alleged currency took over, and despite its Belgian origin, we felt able to include it in our "Coinage of Lille"......"It is claimed that Hazebrouck (another town close to Lille) has also promoted the visit of a liege merchant, who would supply similar coinage to a boilermaker.
The shield on the reverse matches the outline of the shield of Lille on Charles X's coinage.