Metz (1552-54) florin d'or Fr-165b
This specimen was lot 30 in Jean Elsen sale 146 (Brussels, November 2020), where it sold for €6,400 (about US$9,327 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FRANCE, METZ, Evêché, Robert de Lenoncourt (1551-1555), AR florin anonyme au type municipal, s.d. (1552-1554), Vic-sur-Seille. Avec croisette initiale engrêlée au revers. D/ S STEPHA- PROTHOM' Dans une mandorle, saint Etienne deb. de trois quarts à g., ten. une palme et la pierre de sa lapidation. R/ (croix engrêlée de Lenoncourt) FLORENVS EPI METENSIS Ecu de Metz dans un polylobe cantonné de six fleurons. De la plus haute rareté Fines griffes sur la tranche. Très Beau. (bishopric of Metz, Robert de Lenoncourt, 1551-55, undated gold florin imitating the municipal issue, Vic-sur-Seille mint. With an engrailed cross in the reverse legend. Obverse: St. Etienne standing in a mandorla, bearing a palm and a stone; reverse: arms of Metz in a polylobe cantonned with six trefoils. Of the highest rarity, fine scratches on the rim, Very Fine.)
La légende du revers (FLORENVS EPI METENSIS) nous indique que ce florin d'or anonyme est bien une émission de l'évêque de Metz. Il en existe trois variétés dont une présente au revers l'écu à la croix engrêlée de Robert de Lenoncourt, ce qui ne laisse aucun doute sur son attribution. Les deux autres ont l'écu messin et se distinguent par la croisette initiale au revers. Ils ont été attribués à Charles de Lorraine mais l'existence de quelques exemplaires sur lesquels la croisette initiale est engrêlée permet de les donner à Robert de Lenoncourt. A partir de 1552, ce dernier décida d'imiter servilement la monnaie municipale dans son atelier de Vic-sur-Seille et de lui bailler la caractère et la robbe de celle de Metz. L'émission consistait essentiellement en bugnes et demi-bugnes de mauvais titre qui inondèrent rapidement la Lorraine et même la Champagne, mais aussi de quelques rarissimes florins d'or. Devant le nombre croissant de plaintes qui lui étaient adressées, le gouverneur Vieilleville intervint et ordonna au nom du roi que la monnaie épiscopale se distingue de celle de la cité. Lenoncourt introduisit un petit écussonaux pattes de la croix dedans le tour de l'écriture, ce qui imitait tellement la monnaie messine que c'était une vraie piperye et pour mieux tromper que devant. Le roi renouvela son ordre et le cardinal céda en mettant son écu au revers (Flon p. 761). Provient de la collection J. Frazer, vente Ponterio, 30 novembre 1984, 796 et de CNG, vente 460, 29 janvier 2020, 892. (the legend on the reverse, "FLORENVS EPI METENSIS", indicated to us that this gold florin is an episcopal issue. There are three varieties which present this cross on the reverse. These have been attributed to Charles de Lorraine but the presence of the engrailed cross permits us to assign this to Robert de Lenoncourt. After 1552, the bishop decided to slavishly imitate the municipal coinage at his mint at Vic-sur-Seille. The issue comprised bugnes and half bugnes of bad alloy which quickly flooded Lorraine and Champagne but also a few of these rare florins. After receiving numerous complaints, the royal governor Vieilleville intervened and ordered that the episcopal coinage be distinguished from the city coinage. The bishop merely added a tiny cross to the reverse which wasn't enough. The king renewed his order and the bishop added his arms to the reverse.)"
The town of Metz was occupied by the French in the 1550's but was not annexed until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. Regarding Robert, Wikipedia notes,
"Cardinal de Lenoncourt was granted the diocese of Metz on 22 April 1551 by Pope Julius III, in succession to Cardinal Charles de Guise-Lorraine, which he held until December 1555. He was the first bishop of Metz in sixty-seven years to personally take up his charge. With the Treaty of Chambord in 1552, Metz became a part of France and remained so until 1871. King Henri II himself spent three days in Metz, receiving the fealty of his subjects, and then left the Duke de Guise, François de Guise-Lorraine, as his Lieutenant-General. In January 1552 Cardinal de Lenoncourt convoked a meeting of the Estates-General of Metz, but his actions appeared to the citizens to be an effort to concentrate all the power in the city in his own hands. Their strong reaction compelled the Cardinal to withdraw the Estates to the town of Vic, just east of Nancy. On 10 April he helped to introduce a French army into Metz. He was instrumental in overthrowing the republic which had existed under Charles V in favor of the French, manipulating the elections for the Council by naming candidates and choosing the Maître-Échevin (President) himself. Cardinal de Lenoncourt resumed the coinage of money in Metz, in his own name, in 1553. He then sent a memorandum to the King, in which he requested military assistance. The King sent Marshal de Vieilleville to garrison Metz and Vic, and the Marshal quickly took the entire territory under his control. Cardinal Robert lost everything for which he had been working, and went so far as to seek the aid of the Emperor in trying to eject the French garrison from Metz. In 1556 the citizens of Metz petitioned the King of France for relief from their bishop, but Lenoncourt, who had been in Rome for the second Conclave of 1555, had already been transferred to Embrun. It was perhaps the easiest way to solve the political and military problems created by an overzealous supporter of French interests and his own advantage."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: gold, this specimen 3,16 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-165b, Flon 762, 14 (note); coll. Robert 666; Robert & Serrure -; L'or de Metz 97-98.
- 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]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 146: Collection Anthony Lorrain Monnaies de Metz, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2020.
Link to:
- bishopric of Metz (1415-59) 1/2 gros
- bishopric of Metz 1551 thaler Dav-9559
- bishopric of Metz (1551-52) 2 denier
- bishopric of Metz (1551-52) 1/2 thaler
- bishopric of Metz (1552-55) bugne
- Coins and currency dated 1552
- return to French royal coinage (to 1793)