Leopold I of Lorraine spent much of his early reign navigating French occupation — Louis XIV had held the duchy militarily since 1670, and Leopold only recovered meaningful control of his territory in 1697 following the Treaty of Ryswick. These testons, struck in the brief window before the War of the Spanish Succession again complicated Lorraine's precarious position between France and the Empire, represent one of his earliest substantial silver issues as a genuinely governing duke.
The teston denomination itself had roots in 16th-century Lorraine coinage, revived here at a weight reflecting ongoing French monetary influence over the region's standards.
Leopold I of Lorraine spent much of his early reign navigating French occupation — Louis XIV had held the duchy militarily since 1670, and Leopold only recovered meaningful control of his territory in 1697 following the Treaty of Ryswick. These testons, struck in the brief window before the War of the Spanish Succession again complicated Lorraine's precarious position between France and the Empire, represent one of his earliest substantial silver issues as a genuinely governing duke.
The teston denomination itself had roots in 16th-century Lorraine coinage, revived here at a weight reflecting ongoing French monetary influence over the region's standards.