File:France SB816-20428o.jpg

This specimen was lot 20428 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Anaheim, CA, August 2016), where it sold for $822.50. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. 1/2 Ecu, 1695-X. Amiens Mint. Louis XIV (1643-1715). PCGS MS-62 Secure Holder. KM-295.22; Gad-185; Dup-1521a; DFW-260. Close inspection reveals an intricate world of 17th century numismatic art. The portrait of Louis XIV in particular, is as resplendent as any seen on a coin from the period. The facial and hair detail clearly expresses the royal prerogative under which the king operated. The reverse is no less compelling, with evidence of having been overstruck on an earlier Half-Ecu. The undertype is unquestionably a product of the Rouen Mint, some 120 kilometers southeast of Amiens. Listed as KM-273.2 in Krause, and struck for only two years in 1690 and 1691, it’s anyone’s guess why such a recently struck coin would find itself being overstruck less than five years later in Amiens. A coin that obviously was set aside almost immediately after being made, and left essentially untouched for the next 300+ years. Without question it will certainly add a new degree of sophistication to any collection of Louis XIV coinage it joins."