France 1605-C 1/4 ecu

from the Stack's Bowers 2017 Collector's Choice sale, lot 72177

This specimen was lot 72177 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice Online Auction (Santa Ana, CA, May 2017), where it did not sell. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. 1/4 Ecu, 1605-C. Saint Lo Mint. Henry IV (1589-1610). NGC EF-45. Nice round flan with full legends on both sides." This specimen was struck by the hammer at St.-Lô in Normandy during the reign of Henry IV, founder of the Bourbon dynasty (1589-1793). This was the largest silver coin regularly struck in France prior to the introduction of milled coinage in the 1640's. It had a face value of fifteen sols tournois. Duplessy notes this type for the St.-Lô and Rennes mints. It varies from the design used at other mints by having crowns at the ends of the cross rather than fleurs-de-lys.

Recorded mintage: 171,241.

Specification: 9.71 g, 0.917 fine silver.

Catalog reference: KM-28, Duplessy 1230, Sb-4682.

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.
• Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
• ^[1]Ponterio, Rick, et al., The May 2017 Collector's Choice Sale, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2017.

Link to:

• 1604-L quart d'écu
• 1605 huitième d'écu du Béarn, Morlaas mint
• 1605-I demi-franc
• 1605-9 quart d'écu
• 1605 quart d'écu du Béarn, Morlaas mint
• 1606-G quart d'écu
• 1606 quart d'écu du Béarn, Pau mint
• 1607-C quart d'écu
• 1607-T quart d'écu au marteau
• Coins and currency dated 1605
• return to French royal coinage (to 1793)