A copycat post, to say the least. But one I told JJ I would do and finally decided to get around to doing it. I'll start off with some coins from France.
The franc a' pied struck in 1365. This was the coin issued by Charles V of France after the death of his father Jean le bon in 1365 during the 100 Years War. Charles then set about to reorganize the French army and retake most of the English held areas of France. At his death in 1380, the only areas of France held by the English were Calais & Guyenne.
The Louis d'or a' la meche longue of Louis XIV, the Sun King, struck at the Paris mint in 1648.
Louis' reign was the longest and most glorious in French history. He ascended the throne at the age of 5 in 1643 and ruled until 1715. It was a reign fraught with many wars, and many victories. Louis was a dedicated patron of the arts & sciences and did much to promote them throughout the continent for during his reign France was the leading power in Europe. He was also a well known coin collector and his cabinet became the foundation of the nation's future national collection.
I was going to post only examples of gold coins, but this particular coin is worthy of being included here. It is the 1650 half ecu struck at the Limoges mint.
With a mintage of only 10,913 and its high grade, the coin is scarce in and of its own right. But with the extra letter, F, in the legend it might even be considered rare by some. I have checked with various people around the world trying to find an explanation for this extra letter. But I have only ever been able to find one other example of this variety and no confirmed explanation. The coin is unlisted as such in any book or catalog. It is graded and slabbed by NGC as MS64.
This next coin is the 1648-W Louis d’or au bandeau of Louis XV struck at the Lille mint; graded and slabbed by NGC as MS64.
Louis XV, le Bien Aimie ( the well beloved ) survived the death of his entire family. This helped make him quite popular with the French population during his early reign. He was the grandson of Louis XIV, and like his grandfather ascended the throne at the age of 5 in 1715. Louis ruled under the guidance of regents until 1743 when he decided to govern himself. But he was always under the influence of others, in particular his mistresses which included madamme de Pompadour and the comtesse Du Barry. Louis was very indecisive and quite timid, and in general had a policy of appeasement in European politics. This led him to be quite unpopular with the people by the end of his reign and he died as one of the most unpopular kings of France.
The 1848-A 20 franc struck at the Paris mint was among the coins which ushered in the Second Republic; graded and slabbed by NGC as MS65.
The design of the French angel Genie inscribing the Constitution on a tablet was first used during the French Revolution in 1791. It is known as the lucky French angel, and legend has it the designer, Dupre, had a coin bearing this design in his pocket when he was saved from the guillotine. The design was to be used several times on various coins until the beginning of the 20th century.
The Venetian ducat – the coin that became famous for being the longest continuously struck coin in the world.
The Venetian ducat was first struck in 1274 by the Doge of Venice, Lorenzo Tiepolo. They continued to be struck with the same basic design for the next 700 yrs. This example was struck by the Doge Michele Steno 1400-1413. It is graded and slabbed by NGC as MS63.
The franc a’ cheval – the first time the denomination was used.
The franc a’ cheval was issued during the reign of Jean le Bon ( John II ), King of France between 1361- 1364. Struck during the 100 Years War, this coin was issued for one purpose – it was to pay the ransom for the French King being held by the English. Jean was captured in battle in 1356 by the Black Prince, Edward, of England. He was taken to England and held hostage while gold for the ransom was raised. Then in 1363, approximately 600,000 of the 3 million gold ecu’s was paid to England and Jean was released. Soon thereafter, Jean’s son Charles refused to pay the next installment of the ransom. Wishing to maintain his honor and ashamed of his son’s actions, Jean voluntarily returned to England and captivity. He died there in 1365.
This particular example was struck under the authority of the Count Louis de Malle in the Netherlands; it is graded and slabbed by NGC as MS64.
The Real d’or, was struck in the Austrian Netherlands at the Antwerp mint between 1546 - 1556 during the reign of Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor; graded and slabbed by NGC as AU55.
Not since Charlemagne in the early 9th century had any one ruler dominated so much of Europe. While Charles V's (known as Carlos I in Spain) Spanish subjects were exploring and claiming for Spain vast overseas territories in Central and South America. Hernan Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, began to refer to his sovereign as "ruler of the world." Charles spoke of himself as "God's standard bearer," and his banner bore the legend plus ultra - "always further" or "plus more". This motto later became famous as part of the legend on the well known Spanish pillar dollar. And the very first coins struck in the Americas also bore the now famous legend - Carlos & Johanna.
Charles V was heir to several crowns. Actually born in the Netherlands, he ruled Spain, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and important cities in Italy such as Naples & Milan. He was elected Emperor of Germany. He owned enormous oversea dominions in Africa; and the two Americas soon became New Spain. And he had claims to the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia. He governed each part of his European dominions by a different title and under a different constitution. He had no fixed imperial capital, but moved about from place to place, a legitimate sovereign everywhere and, for the most part, a popular one as well.
Quote: The Venetian ducat – the coin that became famous for being the longest continuously struck coin in the world.
The Venetian ducat was first struck in 1274 by the Doge of Venice, Lorenzo Tiepolo. They continued to be struck with the same basic design for the next 700 yrs. This example was struck by the Doge Michele Steno 1400-1413. It is graded and slabbed by NGC as MS63.
Beautiful coin. What is up with the surface on it?
