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!
Douzain - Henri IV 4th type
| Issuer | France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1593 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A cross pattée with deeply indented arms, each extremity terminating in a fleur-de-lys, forming a quatrefoil cross arrangement in the central field. The circumferential legend in Latin, introduced by a key privy mark, reads: SIT.NOMEN.DNI.BENEDICT., a devotional phrase meaning 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.' The overall reverse design is characteristic of the French royal billon coinage of Henri IV's reign. |
| 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 IV struck this douzain in 1593, the most politically volatile year of his reign — the same year he famously converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in July, reportedly quipping that "Paris is worth a mass." The conversion was, above all, a fiscal and military calculation: it collapsed the Catholic League's justification for resistance and opened the gates of the capital without a siege.
The 4th type classification in Duplessy reflects successive design adjustments made as Henri consolidated royal minting authority across a kingdom that had, for years, operated with competing monetary jurisdictions loyal to the League.