France Ecu d'or aux croissants 1552 Paris Henri II, Paris, Gold AU(55-58)

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Crowned arms of France, under a sun, between two crescents. The mint letter at the bottom of the shield., Cross floriate and fleurdelisé, a circle in heart, cantoned by two crescents and two H. Different: rose in the first C of the legends., A fabulous and extremely rare écu d'or for Henri II! A piece of French monetary history, with the first experiments with the coining press!A superb specimen that has unfortunately been cleaned and has a few scratches on the reverse. Numerous small die breaks in the fields, the crescents and at the level of the letters in the legends. This is the first gold coin to be minted at the Moulin des Etuves, the installation of which was decided on 27 March 1550. Trials were struck there in 1551 and circulation coins were struck from 1552 to 1558, using coining press. The ordinary mint in Paris continued to produce hammer-struck coins. The striking of the gold ecu, first with the cross and then with the effigy, was abandoned in 1550 and replaced by a new species, called the Henri d'or. An exceptional issue of this gold ecu with crescents was nevertheless ordered in 1552. Struck with the same dies as the example from the Marchéville collection (no. 2609) as well as the one from the JCM collection, auctioned at the Bourgey sale, Paris, 03/06/2015, lot 13., HENRICVS II D G FRANCOR REX 1552, + CHRS VINCIT CHRS REGNAT CHRS IMP

 

Deutsch abbrev.	Deutsch Erhaltungsgrade	Englisch  Grades der Kühlung	Französisch États de  Erhaltung	Italienisch Stati di  conservazione
PP	Polierte Platte	Proof (PRF)	Flan bruni (FB)	Beweis
st	Stempelglanz, stempelfrisch	Stempelglanz (MS65-MS70)	Fleur de coin (FDC)	Fior di conio
-unz	fast unzirkuliert	Almost uncirculated (AU)
vz	Vorzüglich	Vorzüglich (EF oder XF)	Superbe (SUP)	Splendido
ss	Sehr schön	Sehr fein (VF)	Très Très beau (TTB)	Bellissimo
s	Schön	Fine (F)	Très beau (TB)	Molto bello

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