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Teston - Francis I 8th type
| Issuer | Kingdom of France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1515-1540 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Crowned and draped bust of Francis I facing right, his long hair falling to the shoulder, wearing armor adorned with a fleur-de-lis at the neckline. The effigy is rendered in the Renaissance portrait style characteristic of French royal coinage of the early sixteenth century. A beaded inner circle separates the portrait from the surrounding Latin legend. The circumferential inscription reads FRANCISCVS DEI GRA FRANCO REX, with the mint letter V appearing at the end of the legend. |
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| Reverse description | The crowned royal arms of France, a shield semé of fleurs-de-lis, occupies the central field, flanked on either side by supporters rendered in low relief. The shield is surmounted by a royal crown of elaborate form. Two small heraldic figures flank the escutcheon laterally. The circumferential Latin legend, separated from the central device by a beaded inner circle, reads XPS VINCIT XPS REGNAT XPS IMPERAT, invoking the Christus vincit formula, with the mint letter V visible in the legend. |
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| Additional information |
The teston was France's answer to the large silver coinages spreading across Europe from Italian city-states — the name itself derives from "testa," head, reflecting the then-novel emphasis on a realistic royal portrait rather than a stylized effigy. Francis I adopted and expanded the denomination aggressively, partly to fund the Italian Wars that dominated his reign and consumed staggering sums across multiple campaigns between 1515 and 1525 alone. The eighth type spans a long emission window, and attribution between subtypes depends heavily on mint mark and the specific reverse legend arrangement — Gadoury's R1 designation signals genuine scarcity rather than collector hyperbole.