Denier - Pepin the Short Valenciennes mint

Pépin III's coinage reform — the foundation on which Charlemagne later built his famous monetary overhaul — began almost immediately after he deposed the last Merovingian king in 751 and secured papal legitimacy. The Valenciennes mint was among the northern Frankish workshops operating under this transitional authority, striking deniers that bridged the degenerate Merovingian tradition and the more disciplined Carolingian standard Pépin was actively imposing. The absence of Gariel, Morrison, and Prou references for this specific piece suggests it sits in the murkier documentary territory of early Carolingian attribution.