½ Ecu - Henry IV

Henry IV's accession in 1589 was anything but settled — as a Protestant king inheriting a Catholic throne, he faced immediate rejection from the Catholic League and a rival claimant in Cardinal de Bourbon. Coinage struck in his name during these early years was issued from royalist-held mints only, the rest of France effectively under hostile control. His famous conversion to Catholicism came four years later, in 1593.

The Gadoury R1 designation signals genuine rarity. The "R1" classification in that reference places surviving examples among the scarcest of the reign's silver issues.