Double Gold Ecu - Louise Marguerite

Château-Regnault was a tiny enclave on the Meuse in the Ardennes, and its right to strike coin was never uncontested. Louise Marguerite de Lorraine, Princess of Conti, inherited the principality through her husband François de Bourbon and exercised that minting privilege aggressively — this double écu being the most substantial of her issues. French royal authorities repeatedly challenged autonomous coinages from such minor lordships during the early Bourbon consolidation, making the 1614 date significant: it falls squarely in the regency of Marie de Médicis, when central enforcement was inconsistently applied.

KM# 1.1 distinguishes the earlier die state; a second variety exists with a slightly repositioned mintmark.