Liard - Henry III

Henry III of Navarre — the future Henry IV of France — issued this small billon piece during the years he was simultaneously King of Navarre and the Protestant leader of the Huguenot cause, fighting what would become the War of the Three Henrys. Navarre's coinage during this window was administratively separate from the French royal mint system, struck at Pau under its own authority. The liard denomination itself was a workhorse of everyday exchange, and billon issues from politically contested reigns tend to survive in poor condition precisely because they circulated hard and long among populations that had little access to better money.