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!
Grand Blanc - Francis I with annulets
| Issuer | Kingdom of France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1515-1540 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A bold floriated cross pattée occupies the central field, dividing it into four quarters, each containing alternating crowned fleurs-de-lis and crowned royal ermines or lis, consistent with the heraldic quartering of Francis I. Annulets appear at the quadrant angles between the cross arms and the inner circle. The surrounding legend SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM F — a devotional invocation meaning 'Blessed be the name of the Lord' — runs in Latin Gothic lettering between concentric beaded borders. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
The annulet-marked variant of Francis I's Grand Blanc sits in a transitional moment for French billon coinage — the king's monetary ordinances of the early sixteenth century repeatedly revised silver fineness downward as war expenditure, particularly the Italian campaigns, strained royal finances. The annulets themselves are privy marks used to distinguish issues by mint or emission period, and without a confirmed mint attribution on a given specimen, precise dating within the 1515–1540 window remains an exercise in die study rather than documentary record.
Dy royales 835A places this squarely within a small subseries; the Ciani gap is notable given that collection's otherwise thorough Francis I coverage.