Denier at anchored cross Paris mint

Produced in the twilight of the Merovingian dynasty, when royal authority had effectively collapsed into the hands of the Carolingian mayors of the palace, these deniers were struck at a Paris mint operating under conditions closer to municipal autonomy than royal oversight. The anchored cross type belongs to a period when Frankish coinage had fragmented so thoroughly across hundreds of mints that attributing pieces to specific issuing authorities remains contested — Belfort's range of four reference numbers for this single type reflects precisely that difficulty.

Charles Martel's victory at Tours in 732 falls squarely within this coin's production window, yet monetary reform would wait for his grandson.