France 1550-D teston

Stack's Bowers 2025 ANA sale, lot 46377

from the Mountain Groan Collection

This specimen was lot 46377 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Oklahoma City, OK, August 2025), where it sold for $240. The catalog description^[1] noted, "FRANCE. Teston, 1550-D. Lyon Mint. Henry II. PCGS VF-35. Singular example graded by PCGS. From the Richard Margolis Collection." This teston à la tête couronnée was struck at numerous mints 1549-61 with the bulk of the output completed 1550-57. Sombart^[2] notes four known of this date, making it the most common for the year. Of the 102 examples noted by Sombart, 34 were of the 1552-D.

Recorded mintage: 41,769^[2] including a few demi-testons.

Specification: 9.59 g, 0.899 fine silver.

Catalog reference: Dupl-981; Ciani-1264; Lafaurie-819, Sb 4554.

Sources:

• Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
• Roberts, James N., The Silver Coins of Medieval France (476-1610 AD), S. Salem, NY: Attic Books, 1996.
• ^[2]Sombart, Stéphan, Franciae IV: Catalogue des Monnaies Royales Françaises de François Ier à Henri IV (1540-1610), Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 1997.
• ^[1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2025 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Richard August Collection and the Richard Margolis Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.

Link to:

• 1550-F douzain aux croissants
• 1550-H douzain aux croissants
• 1550-K douzain aux croissants
• 1550-A gros de Nesle
• 1550-A teston à la tête couronnée
• 1550-D double henri d'or
• 1551-M douzain aux croissants
• 1552-A teston au moulin
• Coins and currency dated 1550
• return to French royal coinage (to 1793)