Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Denier Tournois au croissant - Henri II
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1557 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central field displays two fleurs-de-lis arranged side by side within a bilobed arch, surmounted by a crescent above the arch. The mint letter appears in the lower field beneath the bilobed frame. A circular Latin legend surrounds the central device, reading + HENRICVS. II. D. G. FRANC. REX., attributing the coin to Henri II, King of France by the grace of God. The overall composition is characteristic of the hammered billon coinage of the Valois monarchy. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Henri II inherited the Tours mint's denier tournois from his father François I, but the croissant privy mark ties this specific issue to 1557 — a year when French royal finances were under severe strain from the Italian Wars and the ongoing conflict with the Habsburgs. The following year, Philip II's forces would crush the French at Saint-Quentin, accelerating the debt crisis that culminated in Henri's declaration of royal bankruptcy in 1558.
Billon at this fineness is barely silver at all, closer to copper with a wash. By mid-century the tournois denier had been debased so thoroughly over generations that it functioned essentially as a fiduciary token rather than a bullion coin.