1 Teston - Henry II

Henry II's testons of this period were issued under the monetary ordinance of 1549, which attempted to stabilize French royal coinage after decades of debasement disputes with provincial mints. The 1552 issue falls during the active phase of the Habsburg-Valois wars, when campaign financing placed enormous pressure on mint output across the kingdom. Multiple mints struck the type simultaneously — Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen, Paris among others — and the mint mark is the single most consequential variable for attribution and rarity within the series.