France 1640-A 2 louis d'or
This type is the first double louis d'or, part of the coinage reform which attempted to replace hammered coinage with milled coinage. It had a face value of 20 livres tournois. The double louis d'or of Louis XIII were struck 1640-43 in fairly large quantities in an attempt to displace the miscellaneous écus d'or of earlier in the reign and that of Henri IV. The double louis d'or would be struck intermittently until the end of the ancien régime in 1792. The first specimen was lot 1673 in Jean Elsen sale 84 (Brussels, June 2005), where it did not sell. The second specimen was lot 4734 in Sincona sale 4 (Zürich, October 2011), where it sold for 5,800 CHF (about US$7,716 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FRANKREICH Louis XIII. 1610-1643 2 Louis d’or 1640, Paris. Belorbeertes Brustbild nach rechts, darunter die Jahreszahl. Rv. Vier gekrönte Doppel-L ins Kreuz gestellt, in den Winkeln Lilien, im Zentrum das Mzz. Sehr schön-vorzüglich. (France, Louis XIII, 1610-43, double louis d'or of 1643, Paris mint. Obverse: laureate bust to right; reverse: four crowned double L's arrayed in a cross, fleur-de-lys in between, mintmark in center. Very fine to extremely fine.)"
Recorded mintage: 431,911.
Specification: 13.50 g, 0.917 fine gold, plain edge, designed by Jean Warin, the second specimen 13,48 g.
Catalog reference: Dupl-1300, Fr-409, Dr/4 № 17, Dr/2 № 12.
- Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
- Droulers, Frédéric, Répertoire General des Monnaies de Louis XIII à Louis XVI (1610-1792), 4e édition. Paris: AFPN, 2009.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Royales Françaises, 1610-1792, 5me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2018.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- [1]Numismatic Coins, Medals & Banknotes: Auction 4, Zürich: SINCONA AG, 2011.
Link to:
- 1640-E double tournois au petit bust viril drapé
- 1640-H double tournois, buste vieilli au buste drapé
- 1640-A écu d'or à la croix anillée
- 1640-K écu d'or au soleil
- 1640-M écu d'or à la croix anillée
- 1640-X écu d'or à la croix torsadée
- 1640-& écu d'or au soleil
- 1640-A demi-louis d'or
- 1640-A louis d'or
- 1640-A double louis d'or à la croix de templier
- 1640-A quadruple louis d'or
- 1640-A huit louis d'or
- France 1640-A 10 louis d'or
- 1641-A double louis d'or
- Coins and currency dated 1640
- return to French royal coinage (to 1793)