France 1609-StP 1/4 ecu
This specimen was struck by the hammer at St-Palais in Bearn during the reign of Henry IV, founder of the Bourbon dynasty (1589-1793). This was the largest silver coin regularly struck in France prior to the introduction of milled coinage in the 1640's. The SCWC lists an expensive quarter écu for St-Palais (KM 31) but these are probably the scarce machine-struck specimens; as the SCWC offers no picture, one cannot be definite. The first specimen was lot 1297 in Sincona sale 11 (Zürich, May 2013), where it did not sell. The catalog description[1] noted,
"FRANKREICH Henri IV. 1589-1610. Quart d'ecu de Navarre 1609, Saint-Palais. Schrötlingsr. Vorzüglich. (France, Henry IV (1589-1610), quarter écu of Navarre of 1609, St-Palais mint. Planchet cracks, extremely fine.)"
Recorded mintage: 61,218.
Specification: 9.71 g, 0.917 fine silver, the first specimen 9.42 g.
Catalog reference: Sb 4710, KM 1.1?, Duplessy 1238, Ciani 1519.
- Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
- Roberts, James N., The Silver Coins of Medieval France (476-1610 AD), S. Salem, NY: Attic Books, 1996.
- Sombart, Stéphan, Franciae IV: Catalogue des Monnaies Royales Françaises de François Ier à Henri IV (1540-1610), Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 1997.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Numismatic Coins, Medals & Banknotes, Auction 11, Zürich: Sincona AG, 2013.
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