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Quinzain - Louis XIV overstrike
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1692-1699 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse features a large floral cross with fleurs-de-lis at the terminals, dividing the field into four quadrants, each containing a crown or fleur-de-lis motif. The design is enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The circumferential legend SIT. NOMEN. DOMINI. BENEDICTVM. followed by the date 1695 runs between two concentric circles in Latin capital letters, translating as 'Blessed be the Name of the Lord.' Traces of the overstruck host coin's reverse design are discernible in areas of the field, reflecting the recoinage practice of Louis XIV's monetary reform of the 1690s. |
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| Additional information |
The quinzain overstrike series of 1692–1699 was a direct product of Louis XIV's chronic war financing — specifically the ruinous cost of the Nine Years' War against the League of Augsburg. The crown ordered older billon coinage recalled and counterstamped or restruck rather than fully recoined, a shortcut that saved bullion processing costs while allowing the treasury to extract seigniorage a second time from the same metal. The practice was widely resented, as the resulting pieces circulated at face values their base metal content could not honestly support.
Dy 1581a encompasses considerable die variation across the eight-year emission, and pieces showing clear undertype details from the host coin command attention from specialists working the Louis XIV billon series.