France 1557-B 2 henri d'or

from the Stack's Bowers 2018 NYINC sale, lot 20178

This specimen was lot 20178 in Stack's Bowers 2018 NYINC sale (New York, January 2018), where it sold for $9,000. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. 2 Henri d'Or, 1557-B. Rouen Mint. Henry II (1547-59). NGC VF-35. "double henri d'OR" from a type struck 1550-58. Obverse: armored bust right; reverse: cross formed of four crowned "H's" with two crescents and two fleurs-de-lys in the fields. A VERY RARE type, the first we have offered. Appears to be quite severely undergraded and looks more like an Choice Extremely Fine example to this cataloger. Reasonably good strike and covered with soft satin luster. A exceptional example of this issue and a type missing from many advanced collections." This type was struck at Rouen for Henry II 1550-58. It had a face value of one hundred sols tournois or five livres tournois.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 7.30 g, .958 fine gold.

Catalog reference: Fr-367; Dupl-971.

Source:

• Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
• Sombart, Stéphan, Franciae IV: Catalogue des Monnaies Royales Françaises de François Ier à Henri IV (1540-1610), Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 1997.

• 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]Ponterio, Richard, Kyle Ponterio, John Kraljevich and Cris Chatigny, The January 2018 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Eldorado Collection of Colombian and Ecuadorian Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2017.

Link to:

• 1550-F douzain aux croissants
• 1551-B double henri d'or
• 1554-G double henri d'or
• 1556-B henri d'or
• 1557-C demi-teston
• 1558-H double henri d'or
• Coins and currency dated 1557
• return to French royal coinage (to 1793)