France 1775-W ecu

from the Mountain Groan Collection

This specimen is an écu au buste habillé struck at the Lille mint, one of a type struck there 1775-92. Its divisions were the ½, 1/5, 1/10 and 1/20 écu, struck in modest quantities. The écu was worth $1.10 in the USA before the Civil War. The écu au buste habillé is the most popular coin of Louis XVI among collectors. The 1775-W is listed^[1] about 20% higher than the most common date (1789-A) but it is a common mint for 1775.

Specifications for the Écu au buste habillé:

• Obverse: LUD.XVI.D.G.FR ET NAV. REX. (for Pau, NA.RE. BD), king’s uniformed bust left, hair tied with a ribbon;
• reverse: SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTUM (date), oval shield of France, crowned, between two olive branches tied with ribbon, mintmark below; edge lettered DOMINE SALVUM FAC REGEM.
• composition: silver, 11 deniers (.917 fine), 8.3 pieces to the mark (29.488 g), face value 6 livres, 39 mm diameter. Engraved by Benjamin Duvivier. This specimen is 29.28 g.

Recorded mintage: 1,336,383^[1].

Catalog reference: Dav-1333, Dr/4 no. 883, Dr/2 № 616, KM 564.1, Dupl-1708; Ci-2187; Gad-356.

Sources:

• ^[1]Droulers, Frédéric, Répertoire General des Monnaies de Louis XIII à Louis XVI (1610-1792), 2nd édition. Paris: AFPN, 1998.
• Duplessy, Jean, Les Monnaies Françaises Royales de Hugues Capet à Louis XVI (987-1793), Tome II, 2e édition, Paris: Maison Platt, 1999.
• Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
• Davenport, John S., European Crowns, 1700-1800, 2nd Ed., London: Spink & Son, 1964.

Link to:

• 1775-BB demi-écu au buste habillé
• 1775-A écu au buste habillé
• 1775-B écu au buste habillé
• 1775-Pau écu au buste habillé
• 1775-A louis d'or au buste habillé
• 1775-W louis d'or au buste habillé
• 1775-I double louis d'or au buste habillé
• 1776-I écu au buste habillé
• 1776-W écu au buste habillé
• Coins and currency dated 1775
• return to French Royal coinage (to 1793)