Double écu d'or au soleil - Henri III

Reverse

Cross flory, anglée of four small lilies, H in heart.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
+ CHRISTVS VINCIT REGNAT IMPER C
H

Unabridged legend: CHRISTUS REGNAT VINCIT IMPERAT

Comment

Illegal minting; the minting of the double écus was never authorized by the Paris Mint, nor by the Chambre des Comptes in Tours, which acted as the Mint Court for the Royalist party. In 1590, these double écus were decried, and Fidelle, Master of the Mint, had to reimburse them. (Cf: Jean Lafaurie: Les monnaies des rois de France).

Driven out of Paris on May 13, 1588, following the Day of the Barricades and the League insurrection, Henri III took refuge in Tours. From there, in a letter dated March 23, 1589, he ordered the officers of the Paris Mint to transfer the mint to Compiègne. But the royal wishes were not carried out. So, on April 26, 1589, he asked Charles de Humières, governor of Compiègne, to have the mint "minted in the said town of Compiègne, using the particular mark of Paris, which is an A, the first letter of the alphabet".

The C added to the reverse is the initial of Compiègne, associated with the A of Paris. This forms a coherent system for the temporary workshops of the League period, with A and C for Compiègne, just as we find A and M on coins minted in Melun, and even L and A for Laon.

Interesting fact

Price

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