15 Deniers - Louis XIV

Issued in the final years of the War of the Spanish Succession, when French royal finances had collapsed so thoroughly that Louis XIV was melting palace silver to meet military payrolls. The billon coinage of this period — alloyed down to barely a fifth silver — reflects direct treasury desperation rather than any monetary policy preference. These were stop-gap instruments, and the crown knew it.

Production ran across multiple provincial mints simultaneously, creating meaningful die and mint-mark variation across the type. Dauphine and other regional issues can differ noticeably in strike quality, as local mints operated under uneven supervision during the wartime disruption.