1/2 Ecu with palm branches - Louis XIV

The "écu aux palmes" series was struck during France's most financially ruinous decade — the Nine Years' War against the Grand Alliance drained the treasury so completely that Louis XIV twice ordered the royal silver melted for coinage, including his own palace plate. The half-écu denomination bore the brunt of actual commerce while the full écu sat in stronger hands.

Duplessy 1521 spans nine years of production across multiple mints, and mint mark identification is essential — Paris output dwarfs provincial strikes, but houses like Rennes and Bordeaux produced quantities thin enough to command serious premiums in equivalent grades.