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1640 countermark on a 1622-N [Montpellier Mint] Douzain of Louis XIII

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:150.00 CAD Estimated At:400.00 - 500.00 CAD
1640 countermark on a 1622-N [Montpellier Mint] Douzain of Louis XIII

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Host Coin of Louis XIII (ruled 1610-1643), Vlack Unlisted Type - 1640 countermark on a 1622-N [Montpellier Mint] Douzain of Louis XIII, Ciani Unlisted, Duplessy 1343, host coin of his type of 1341c. Choice Very Fine, well struck and with the legends mostly strong and full, save for the bottom obverse and corresponding part of the reverse where the planchet is clipped. The 1622 date is strong at the top reverse, and the “N” mintmark is bold at the base of the shield. Lovely silvery grey, the surfaces hard and pleasing, the countermark lightly applied to the reverse and thus not causing much flattening on the obverse, and much finer than the Duplessy plate coin for this type. This is a fascinating host coin for this type. The late Walter Breen had stated that the majority of 1640 countermarks were found on Louis XIII douzains, yet Vlack was never able to find one and didn’t list it at all in his billon coinage book (it was later called type Vlack 1p); Breen was obviously incorrect, and his error likely stemmed from misreading the 1640 date that the countermarks were applied to be the date of the host coins, which would have been struck in the reign of Louis XIII. Unfortunately for that reading, Louis XIII did not issue any billon douzains under his name, save for a 1618 issue that is unknown with a countermark (a French king would not want to deface his own coinage) and an extremely rare 1641 issue that has the countermark engraved into the die (an example of which is offered in the following section). The billon douzains that bear his name were actually illegal issues, struck by the Huguenot Duc de Rohan, a Protestant with a storied military career (and a favorite of King Henri IV in France as well as Queen Elizabeth I in England who called the Duc “her knight,” a rare honor for a non-Englishman). This unauthorized douzain was struck in 1621-2 and again in 1628-9; in style it closely follows the earlier douzains, especially of Henri III and IV, with a crowned shield on the obverse and a cross with crowns and fleur-de-lys in the fields it forms on the reverse, the obvious differences being the letter “L” at each side of the crown as well as the date. While only scarce as a coin, the type is quite rare with a 1640 countermark, the main reason that Vlack was never able to find one (or allow Breen to correct his error); Duplessy listed the types with the countermark as his 1343 – but that number incorporated any of the dates and mints that struck this coinage. The present offering contains four examples of this coinage, with three different dates, an unlisted date for a known type and a completely unlisted type – an unprecedented offering indeed!