This coin recovered from a level dated to around 1800-1810 was actually minted in 1722, but it would have crossed the Atlantic at least three times before ending up buried in the ground at Madame John’s! Valued at 9 deniers when first minted, the French coin was intended to help remedy a shortage of hard currency in New France, but the coin was underweight, and, when some 534,000 of the coins were shipped to Canada in 1722, they languished in a warehouse. Canadian colonists, already mistrustful of the coins because they were refused at face value in the British colonies, saw their suspicions confirmed in 1724, when the crown devalued them to 6 deniers. Even though penalties were imposed to force acceptance of the coins, the Canadians shipped almost 526,000 of them back to France in 1726, so only 8,000 had entered circulation while in Canada. The saga of the 9 denier coin did not end with the shipment back to France. Louisiana had struggled with issues surrounding its unsupported paper currency from its inception. After the end of the so-called Mississippi bubble and the reversion of the Louisiana colony to the French crown in 1731, the remaining 9 denier coins were shipped to Louisiana, where they circulated at anywhere from 3 to 12 deniers in value, depending on the actual metal weight. Anecdotal evidence suggests that they gained new life in Louisiana, remaining in circulation for much longer than might be typical for a low denomination copper coinage.