1/2 Gold Ecu - Francis I

Francis I restructured French gold coinage in 1519, reducing the écu au soleil to a lighter standard that persisted through his reign — this half-écu falls within that reformed framework. The 1541 dating places it firmly in the period following the fourth Italian War, when Francis was financing simultaneous conflicts against Charles V and maintaining an extraordinarily expensive royal court, pressures that kept the royal mints working steadily.

The .958 fineness was among the highest maintained by any contemporary European monarchy. Ciani 1093 is the standard reference for collector attribution, though Duplessy's classification at Dy royales 890 remains the authoritative citation for die study.