1/2 Franc - Frederic Henry

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.