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!
Liard - William Henry
| Issuer | Orange, Principality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1651 |
| 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 | Central device consisting of a large ornate cross with lily-shaped, petal-like arms radiating outward in a rosette or floral cross pattern, sometimes described as a cross fleuronnée or lily cross, filling the majority of the field. The design is executed in a decorative, almost Gothic floral style, with each arm of the cross terminating in stylized petals, creating a wheel-like symmetrical composition. The surrounding Latin legend, interrupted by stops, reads SOLI·DEO·HONOR·ET·GLO followed by the date 1651, translating as 'To God alone, honor and glory.' The flan is irregular at the edges, consistent with hammered production. The legend is partially struck, a common feature of feudal billon coinage of this era. |
| 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 |
Orange was a tiny Protestant enclave surrounded by French royal territory, and by 1651 William Henry of Nassau was fighting a constant rearguard action to preserve its autonomy against Louis XIV's encroachments. The principality's right to strike its own coinage was one of the few sovereign prerogatives it could still exercise, and these small billon issues were a deliberate assertion of that standing — minted in defiance of French pressure to absorb the territory.
The Dumas féodales and Van der Wis references both cite this type; its absence from Poey d'Avant and Dhénin reflects how thinly documented Orange's later feudal coinage remains in the major corpora.