1 Ecu - Antonio I

Obverse description	Draped bust of Prince Antoine I of Monaco facing right, with long flowing curled wig in the Louis XIV style, the effigy truncated at the shoulder and rendered in high relief with fine baroque detail. The portrait occupies the majority of the field and is encircled by a circular Latin legend reading ANT . I . D . G . PRIN . MONOECI., separated by decorative stops. The reverse die alignment and broad flan are characteristic of the large French-style écu coinage of the period.
Obverse script	Latin
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Additional information	Antoine I ruled Monaco as a vassal of France, but the principality retained the right to strike its own coinage — a privilege jealously guarded through decades of diplomatic negotiation with Versailles. His ecu issues were produced during the War of the Spanish Succession, when French financial strain and silver shortages repeatedly disrupted minting across the entire Bourbon sphere. Monaco was no exception: production was intermittent, and surviving examples from this eight-year window vary considerably in die quality and strike consistency, almost certainly reflecting the same bullion supply problems afflicting French provincial mints of the same period.