France 1642-A louis d'or
This specimen was lot 1319 in UBS sale 83 (Zürich, September 2009), where it sold for CHF 3000 (about US$3449 including buyer's fee). The catalog description noted,
"Louis XIII. 1610-1643. Louis d'or 1642, Paris. Belorbeertes Brustbild nach rechts, darunter die Jahreszahl. Rv. Vier gekrönte Doppelinitialen ins Kreuz gestellt, in den Winkeln Lilien, im Zentrum das Mzz. Vorzüglich-FDC" (undraped bust facing right, date below; reverse: four double initials in a cross pattern with fleur-de-lys, mintmark in center, AU-uncirculated).
This type is the first French louis d'or, part of the coinage reform which attempted to replace hammered coinage with milled coinage. Its face value was 10 livres tournois. The 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 louis d'or would be struck until the end of the ancien régime in 1792.
Recorded mintage: 682,000 (all varieties).
Specification: 6.75 g, 0.917 fine gold, plain edge, designed by Jean Warin; this specimen: 6.69 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-410, Gadoury-58, Dr/4 № 26, Dupl-1301.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Droulers, Frédéric, Répertoire General des Monnaies de Louis XIII à Louis XVI (1610-1792), 4e édition. Paris: AFPN, 2009.
- Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
- 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.
- Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Royales Françaises, 1610-1792, 5me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2018.
Link to:
- 1640-A louis d'or
- 1640-A double louis d'or
- 1642-H double tournois à la vieille tête de Warin
- 1642-A 1/12 écu
- 1642-M huitiême d'écu
- 1642-A quart d'écu
- 1642-D hammered quart d'écu
- 1642-E hammered quart d'écu
- 1642-F hammered quart d'écu
- 1642-A écu
- 1642-A écu d'or au moulin
- 1642-N écu d'or au marteau
- 1642-A demi-louis d'or
- 1643-D 1/12 écu
- 1642-A demi-écu
- 1643-A louis d'or
- Coins and currency dated 1642
- return to French royal coinage (to 1793)