Mines de l’Argentière 5 centimes 1887

The monogram on the obverse, hitherto unexplained, is ROUX, named after Victor Roux, a wealthy financier from Marseille. Around 1875, he rediscovered and developed a lead and zinc vein at L’Argentière, which may have been exploited since Antiquity and certainly during the Middle Ages. In 1881, he founded the Société des Mines des Bormettes, obtained a concession for lead, zinc, silver, copper, and antimony, and began exploitation in 1885.