1 Écu d'Or - Louis XIII

Louis XIII was twelve years old and ruling under the regency of his mother, Marie de Médicis, when this écu was struck. The regency period saw considerable monetary instability, with the crown repeatedly debasing and reforming coinage to fund factional conflicts and the costs of suppressing Protestant strongholds. The 1615 date places this piece in the final year of Marie's formal regency, before Louis XIII had her effectively exiled following the assassination of her favourite, Concino Concini, in 1617.

The Dy royales 1284a attribution distinguishes this from the closely related 1284 type by a minor die characteristic — collectors working this series without Divo and Costantin in hand frequently conflate the two.