Medieval Gold Anglo-Gallic Salut d'or - Henry VI Paris

Code: 11964

This is a medieval gold Salut of 22 "sols" and 6 "deniers", of King Henry VI, minted at Paris between 1423 - 1436 AD. This coin would have circulated within France around the time of Joan of Arc 

Obverse: Archangel Gabriel (on the right) standing to the left, wings half spread, facing the Virgin Mary (on the left) standing to the right, whom he visits and greets by handing her a parchment bearing the inscription " AVE "; the figures are seen half-length and placed behind the accosted shields of France and France-England; above, a blessing hand. Legend reads: hENRICVS: DEI: GRA: FRACORV: Z: AGLIE: REX "Henry, by the grace of God, King of England and France"

Reverse: Plain Latin cross accosted by a lily and a leopard, under which is a H oncial, all in a fleur-de-lis decalobe: XPC ★ VINCIT ★ XPC ★ REGNAT ★ XPC ★ IMPERAT "Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands".

DENOMINATION: Salut d'Or, the mint mark crown is indicative of the Paris Mint.

CULTURE: Medieval France

MONARCH: Henry VI

DATE: 1422 - 1453 AD (this coin minted between 1423 - 1436 AD)

MATERIAL: Gold

SIZE: 26.41mm diameter

WEIGHT: 3.41 grams

ATTRIBUTION: AGC 385B dies 1/a; Schneider 80; Elias 264; S.8164)

PROVENANCE: Formerly in a private collection France, with a French export licence.

From 1421, the kings of France Charles VI and Charles VII had a new type of gold coin struck: the golden "salut". Their rivals, the kings of England Henry V then his son Henry VI, hastened to copy the golden "salut" to make use of it, in particular in their French possessions, using the graphics of the French currency but with some specific modifications. In the first issue of Henry VI's golden "saluts", ordered on February 6, 1423, the gold "salut" was worth 25 "sous tournois" (and the golden "saluts" therefore weighed about 3.9 grams). However, barely seven months later and to cope with the many monetary manipulations of his adversary Charles VII (1422-1461), Henry VI had to reduce the price of gold "saluts" to 22 "sols" and 6 "deniers", or 22 "sols" and a half (for a weight of about 3.5 grams per piece now). To differentiate the emissions:
- First issue of February 6, 1423: blessing hand above the Virgin and the Archangel (weight: 3.9 g).
- Second broadcast of September 6, 1423: five rays of divine light above the Virgin and the Archangel (weight: 3.5 g).
Thirteen continental mints minted coins in the name of Henry VI but, according to Ducan Elias, we only know salutes for Amiens, Auxerre, Châlons, Dijon, Le Mans, Paris, Rouen, Saint-Lô, Saint-Quentin and Troyes; if specimens struck in Paris, Rouen and Saint-Lô are common, those found for other mints are much rarer. It is important to remember that while Henry VI's reign continued in England until 1453, he was kicked out of France in 1449. In addition, he did not directly control all the mints. Indeed, those of Amiens, Arras, Auxerre, Dijon, Mâcon, Nevers and Saint-Quentin were in reality in the hands of his ally, the Duke of Burgundy Philippe le Bon (1419-1467) . Also, when the latter reconciled with the King of France Charles VII after the Treaty of Arras signed on September 11, 1435, all his mints immediately stopped minting coins in the name of Henry VI! Subsequently, the cities are taken over one by one and with them their monetary mints: Le Mans in 1448, then in 1449 Saint-Lô and finally Rouen which remains the last to mint coins for Henry VI until October 29 of this year.