1 Écu - Louis XV

The écu blanc of Louis XV emerged from a monetary system still adjusting to the reforms of 1726, when the French crown finally stabilized its coinage after decades of deliberate debasement and revaluation under Law's disastrous Mississippi scheme. The 1726 tariff fixed silver values with unusual rigidity, and the écu held that peg for nearly fifty years — an exceptional stretch of monetary stability by Ancien Régime standards.

Pieces from the later years of this long run, particularly those struck after 1771, reflect the administrative reorganization that shuttered several provincial mints as Turgot and his predecessors rationalized production. Mint letter is consequently the critical variable when assessing this type.