1/20 Ecu with three crowns - Louis XIV

The twentieth-ecu denominations of Louis XIV's final monetary reform of 1709–1710 were a direct consequence of the catastrophic financial strain of the War of Spanish Succession. The kingdom was effectively bankrupt; the winter of 1709 had destroyed harvests across France, and Versailles was melting its own silver plate. The recoinage ordered that year was partly a revenue mechanism — each reminting allowed the Crown to skim seigniorage from the public's own metal.

These small subdivisions circulated hard and died fast. The 1/20 écu saw heavy everyday use precisely because larger denominations were being hoarded.