Denier Tournois au croissant - Henri II

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.