Gros tournois - Philippe IV elongated O

The gros tournois was introduced under Louis IX in 1266 as France's first large silver denomination, modeled on the coinage of Tours and designed to compete with the proliferating deniers of the feudal lords. Philippe IV inherited the type and, for most of his reign, maintained its fineness — a restraint he would dramatically abandon after 1303, when serial debasements began funding his wars against Flanders and his ruinous conflict with Boniface VIII.

The Dy 217 variety is distinguished by the elongated O, a die-cutter's quirk that allows attribution to a specific and narrow production window within the 1290s. This is among the last issues struck before the monetary manipulations that would destabilize French silver coinage for the following decade.