Gold Ecu with sun of Dauphine - Francis I 6th type, 3rd emission

The "écu au soleil" series underwent repeated typological revision under Francis I as the crown struggled to stabilize gold coinage following decades of debasement and the financial strain of the Italian Wars. This 6th type, 3rd emission belongs to a narrow window of production tied specifically to the Dauphiné mint — a regional attribution that complicates die attribution and makes clean provenance unusually difficult to establish.

The Ciani and LP gaps in the reference record are telling; this emission has long fallen between the major cataloguing efforts, leaving specialists reliant on Dy and Gadoury for attribution.