AU
FRANCE - LOUIS XIV - LOUIS D’OR À L’ÉCU 1691 ROUEN - PCGS AU58
- Condition: AU
- Grade: PCGS AU58
- Date: 1691
- Mint: Rouen
- Metal: Gold
- Weight (g): nc
- Diameter (mm): nc
- Reference(s): Gad. 250 / Dup. 1435A
- Rarity: R2
Louis XIV (1643-1715), louis d’or à l’écu, 1691, struck at Rouen.
Obverse: mature laureate head of the king right, wearing a wig. Legend LVD XIIII D G FR ET NAV REX, with a privy mark after D G. Reverse: crowned arms of France with three fleurs-de-lis. Legend B SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM 1691, with a privy mark between DOMINI and BENEDICTVM. Mint letter B (Rouen) opening the legend.
Struck on a reformed flan, with traces of the undertype behind the head. Slightly irregular flan, fine hairlines and small red spots, crisp strike on the reverse. About Uncirculated.
Note: the louis d’or à l’écu was born of the first reformation, launched in late 1689 to finance the War of the League of Augsburg. Rather than melting down the old louis, the mints restruck them directly with the new type, at a raised face value to the Treasury’s profit. The operation paid, and it was repeated: from 1693, a new reformation imposed the louis d’or aux quatre L, likewise struck mostly over older coins.
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