1/4 Ecu - Honoré II

Honoré II extracted the title of Prince from Louis XIII in 1612 — the first ruler of Monaco to hold it — after decades of Spanish suzerainty ended with the Treaty of Péronne. These quarter écus, struck nearly forty years into his reign, were minted under French monetary conventions, reflecting the alliance that had secured his dynasty's survival. Monaco's output from this period was small and irregular, produced in a territory of roughly one square kilometer with no indigenous silver supply.