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Gold Zecchino - William Henry
| Issuer | Orange, Principality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1679-1702 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.41 g |
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| Obverse description | Standing figure of Christ facing, nimbed and robed, holding a long staff or cross in his left hand, with his right hand extended in blessing toward a diminutive kneeling figure of Prince William Henry at lower right, who is depicted in regal dress with hands clasped in devotion. The composition closely follows the Venetian zecchino tradition. A Latin legend encircles the field along the toothed border. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The Principality of Orange was a tiny sovereign enclave surrounded entirely by French territory, and Louis XIV spent much of his reign engineering its absorption. William Henry — better known as William III of England — ruled Orange in name but rarely in practice; French troops occupied the principality for extended periods during the Nine Years' War, and Louis formally annexed it by force in 1713, a decade after William's death. These zecchini were struck on the Venetian standard, a deliberate signal of legitimate sovereign coinage rights that Orange's rulers pressed hard to maintain against French pressure to suppress them.