Honoré II secured the title "Prince of Monaco" from Spain in 1612, but by 1640 he had shifted allegiance decisively to France — a political pivot formalized in the Treaty of Péronne that same year. This coinage falls directly within that transition, issued under newly consolidated Monégasque authority at a moment when the Grimaldi grip on independent minting rights was being actively reasserted after decades of Genoese and Spanish pressure.
Billon issues of this type are notoriously susceptible to surface corrosion, and genuinely problem-free examples are scarce.
Honoré II secured the title "Prince of Monaco" from Spain in 1612, but by 1640 he had shifted allegiance decisively to France — a political pivot formalized in the Treaty of Péronne that same year. This coinage falls directly within that transition, issued under newly consolidated Monégasque authority at a moment when the Grimaldi grip on independent minting rights was being actively reasserted after decades of Genoese and Spanish pressure.
Billon issues of this type are notoriously susceptible to surface corrosion, and genuinely problem-free examples are scarce.