Double Gold Henri in the name of Henry II, 3rd type

Henry II died in July 1559 from wounds sustained in a jousting tournament — a lance splinter through the visor — and this type straddles that rupture directly. Coins struck in his name continued under Francis II, who was fifteen years old and reigned less than eighteen months before dying of an ear infection in December 1560. The "in the name of Henry II" formula persisted through Francis II's entire reign and into the early months of Charles IX, making the precise attribution of individual pieces within this window genuinely difficult without die study.