Liard - Antoine I

Antoine I ruled Monaco under French suzerainty, and his copper coinage of 1720 was struck at a moment when the principality's finances were perpetually strained by the costs of maintaining a court expected to mirror Versailles in miniature. The liard was the lowest practical denomination in circulation — a coin that bought bread or paid a toll, handled by everyone and saved by no one, which explains why surviving examples in decent condition are genuinely scarce.