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!
1/2 Franc - Frederic Henry
| Issuer | Principality of Orange (French States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1641-1643 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Hammered |
| 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 | Draped bust of Frederic Henry, Prince of Orange, facing right, with flowing curly hair, set within a beaded inner circle. The effigy displays a mantle or cuirass at the truncation. A Latin legend encircles the bust in the outer field, separated from the central device by the beaded border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
Frederick Henry of Nassau held Orange as a sovereign principality while simultaneously serving as Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic — a jurisdictional oddity that allowed him to strike coins in his own name on French soil. The Orange mint operated under persistent pressure from the French crown, which viewed independent feudal coinage as an affront; Louis XIII's government would ultimately suppress much of it. These pieces were struck during the final years of Frederick Henry's life, as French encroachment on the principality's privileges was already well advanced.
He died in 1647, and within a generation Louis XIV had seized Orange outright.