AU
FRANCE - LOUIS XIV - LOUIS D’OR À LA MÈCHE LONGUE 1653 ARRAS - NGC AU58 - TOP POP
- Condition: AU
- Grade: NGC AU58
- Date: 1653
- Mint: Arras
- Metal: Gold
- Weight (g): 6.75
- Diameter (mm): 24.5
- Reference(s): Gad. 245 / Dup. 1422
- Rarity: R3
Louis XIV (1643-1715), louis d’or à la mèche longue, 1653, struck at Arras.
Obverse: youthful laureate head of the king right, a long lock falling on the neck, date 1653 below. Legend LVD XIIII D G FR ET NAV REX, with a ligated AR after D G. Reverse: cross of eight addorsed L’s in pairs, each arm topped by a crown breaking the legend, a fleur-de-lis in each angle; at the centre, within a circle, a rat. Legend CHRS REGN VINC IMP, for Christus regnat, vincit, imperat. Mint marks AR and rat (Arras).
Medal alignment. Very slightly off-centre strike. Magnificent mint lustre. Fairly rare. In our opinion, a coin that would merit MS62. About Uncirculated.
Top Pop: this is the finest graded example!
Note: taken from Spain in 1640, Arras was still a contested frontier stronghold in 1653: the following year, Spanish forces led by Condé laid siege to it. Its mint struck only 600 louis d’or à la mèche longue that year. They bear two marks proper to the city: the ligated AR in the obverse legend and, at the heart of the reverse cross, the rat, the canting emblem of Arras.
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