France 1777-T 2 louis d'or

From CoinVarieties
Jump to navigation Jump to search
from Heritage sale 61253, lot 99130
H61253-99130r.jpg

This specimen was lot 99130 in Heritage sale 61253 (Dallas, January 2022), where it sold for $3,840. The catalog description[1] noted, "France: Louis XVI gold 2 Louis d'Or 1777/6-T UNC Details (Obverse Cleaned) NGC, Nantes mint. A generally elusive bust type from Louis XVI's reign in gold already, let alone from this mint-date, with the added intrigue of this seemingly unlisted overdate. Missing from both the Gallia and Stack collections, this specimen continues to admit a notably glassy sheen over the obverse in spite of the noted cleaning, which for its part appears exceedingly light. We have been unable to locate another example in auction records from recent years, marking this as a significant rarity for mint-date collectors." The specimen shown is a double louis au buste habillé of the Nantes mint. The double louis of Louis XVI continued to be struck to the standard of 1726 but the price of gold had risen, making the type uneconomical to issue. In 1785, Calonne lowered the weight to 15.30 grams and recoined all the stocks in government hands, rendering this earlier type very rare. Overdates are fairly numerous in the French royal series but have received little attention.

Recorded mintage: 9,890[2], a scarce date of a rare type.

Specification: 16.31 g, 0.917 fine gold, reeded edge, 28-29 mm diameter.

Catalog reference: Dr/4 № 875, Dr/2 № 611, cf. KM 575.13 (overdate not listed), Dupl-1703, Gad-362 (R3; overdate not listed).

Source:

  • [2]Droulers, Frédéric, Répertoire General des Monnaies de Louis XIII à Louis XVI (1610-1792), 4e édition. Paris: AFPN, 2009.
  • Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
  • 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.
  • [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, The Brittany Collection of French Coins Showcase Auction #61253, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2021.

Link to:

Retrieved from "https://coinvarieties.com/index.php?title=France_1777-T_2_louis_d%27or&oldid=578654"