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Douzain - Louis XIV
| Issuer | France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1658 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Crowned shield of France semé of fleurs-de-lis, flanked on either side by a crowned cursive letter L, the royal monogram of Louis XIV. The shield is surmounted by a large royal crown with elaborate foliate detail. The peripheral legend in Latin reads LVD. XIIII. D. G. FR. ET. NAV. REX with the date 1658, interrupted by the mint letter A at the base of the shield. The coin is struck within a beaded border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
By 1658, Louis XIV was nineteen years old and France was still bleeding from decades of war — the Fronde had only just collapsed, and Mazarin was negotiating what would become the Peace of the Pyrenees the following year. The douzain, a twelve-denier billon piece with roots in the sixteenth century, had been chronically debased across successive reigns as the crown extracted seigniorage to fund military expenditure. The silver content by this point was a fraction of what earlier douzains had carried.
Demarteau's classification under Dy royales 1579 places this among the later billon issues that circulated alongside a chaotic mixture of older, heavier pieces — a situation the royal edicts of the period repeatedly tried and failed to resolve.