Blanchet - Charles I

Charles I of Savoy ruled a duchy caught between the competing pressures of France and the Italian states, and his coinage reflects that precarious position — billon issues of minimal intrinsic value that functioned more as tokens of political presence than reliable exchange. He died in 1490 leaving no legitimate heir, precipitating a succession crisis that would eventually draw the duchy into direct French influence under his successors.

The blanchet denomination itself was a product of chronic silver shortages across the Franco-Italian monetary zone in the late fifteenth century. Dy féodales 2770 is not a rare type, but survivors in attributable condition are less common than mintage logic would suggest.