Petit royal d'or - Philippe IV

Philippe IV introduced this coin in 1290, roughly a decade before his far more aggressive monetary manipulations began. The petit royal was part of a deliberate effort to stabilize royal coinage at a moment when the French crown was asserting tighter control over minting privileges previously scattered among feudal lords and ecclesiastical authorities. Within a few years, Philippe would earn the epithet "le Faux-Monnayeur" — the counterfeiter — from his own subjects for the debasements that followed.

The .999 fineness places this among the purest gold issues of the Capetian period, a standard Philippe would not maintain.